Wishful Thinking
by Allison McDonnell
Summary: Sequel to "Peace Of Mind."  A series of vignettes which take place throughout the winter camp and beyond. D&D remain clueless that John unwittingly confessed his love to Devon on the Dreamplane.  But that could change if Alonzo has any say about it.
1. Chapter 1

**WISHFUL THINKING**

Disclaimer: Amblin... Universal... blah, blah, blah, please don't sue me legal cakes.

Timeline: The story begins just after the events of "Grendlers In The Myst," but subsequent chapters take place throughout the rest of the episodes (and beyond).

Author's Thanks: A hah-yuge thank you to FCBKate and Manuela for their continued support and general awesomeness.

Summary: This is a sequel to my fic "Peace Of Mind" which I'll summarize so you don't have to go back and read it. On the eve of the events which took place in the episode "The Greatest Love Story Never Told," Danziger dreamed of Devon. She'd remained silent as he proclaimed his love and told her that he wants to stay with her in New Pacifica. Neither of them ever realize that, thanks to Alonzo's meddling, they had actually been transported to the Dreamplane and everything that they'd experienced there was real.

As our story begins here, Devon and Danziger are continuing their lives as leaders of Eden Advance and both remain clueless that John has unwittingly confessed his true feelings for his (fr)enemy. But that could change if Alonzo has any say about it.

This is a series of vignettes/missing scenes which take place throughout the Winter Camp and beyond. It (hopefully) remains cohesive within the confines of the established canon. When it comes down to it, I just wanted to make Devon and Danziger's relationship even more complicated than it already was. Because it's fun.

* * *

Timeline: Those long days between "The Greatest Story Never Told" and "Brave New Pacifica"

Devon couldn't believe that it had happened yet again. She was beyond infuriated as she stormed into the main room of the BioDome, disrupting a jovial conversation between the room's only other occupants, Denner and Eben. Tension immediately filled the air and the two women exchanged an all-knowing look, easily recognizing that the source of Devon's foul mood rested squarely upon the shoulders of John Danziger. Sensing that Devon needed solitude and definitely not wanting to be dragged into a anger-fueled tirade about the mechanic, the pair grabbed their mugs of almost-coffee and hastily vacated the room as quickly as they could in search of a calmer venue.

Now alone with only her rage as company, Devon swung open a random cabinet and paused, chastising herself for forgetting the reason that she'd entered the enclosure in the first place. She remained empty handed as she loudly slammed the cabinet door closed in frustration, rattling the entire inventory of items on all of the surrounding flat surfaces.

Damn him, she inwardly steamed. Why on earth did Danziger constantly insist on pushing her so? And why did he almost always appear to be getting such pleasure from keeping her life continually off-kilter?

Of course by 'pleasure,' Devon meant 'agitation' because she rarely saw John happy about anything, beyond the quiet time spent with True when he thought that no one else was around. If it wasn't for those stolen moments with his daughter in which he exposed the kinder, more gentle side of his disposition that he rarely allowed anyone to see, Devon might have questioned whether or not he was human. In fact, on more than one occasion, she'd inwardly likened the fulfillment that John seemed to derive from antagonizing her to a snake which feasted on its prey by swallowing it whole.

Sometimes he could upset her without uttering a single word. It might only take the rolling of his eyes or a snort under his breath. It could be a simple action- or even an inaction- from John that could put her on the path to fury. Devon resented this power that he wielded over her and, until G889, she'd never experienced its equal. And she certainly hoped that she never did again.

A loud voice outside the Dome halted Devon's thoughts midstream.

"Hey, Devon!" Cameron yelled to her from his perch at the campsite's snow encrusted border. "He's back!"

The leader was immediately in motion as she burst through the double doors, gasping as the frigid night air momentarily took her breath away. Undaunted, she hurried toward the north edge of camp, squinting in the darkness to locate Cameron, who had been scheduled for the evening's second shift of guard duty.

As Devon angrily marched into his line of sight, Cameron emitted a shudder that had nothing to do with the temperature. Though he was pleased to be able to report that he'd finally located John, the crewman didn't relish the possibility of becoming the object of Devon's ire. That was Danziger's job.

Upon reaching Cameron, Devon's words came out slowly and through gritted teeth. "Where is he?"

Cameron clicked on his luma-light and directed the beam out into the blackness. The light almost immediately fell upon a shadowed figure navigating the nearby copse of trees. As the large silhouette carefully edged his way around waist-high drifts and snow-capped bushes, he looked up, temporarily blinded by the glare focused directly into his eyes.

Danziger raised his arm to shield him from the beam's path. "Hey, cut it out, Cam!" he gruffed, obviously annoyed.

Cameron began to comply with Danziger's wishes, but an ice cold stare from Devon forced him to reconsider his options. Instead, he held the luma-light on the mechanic until he had trudged the last hundred or so yards back into camp.

"Shank," they heard him curse under his breath as he noticed Devon's presence, his physical demeanor transforming from relaxed to rigid.

Though he momentarily considered bypassing Devon entirely in favor of continuing to the meal tent for a cup of coffee, John ended up deciding against it. He could tell from the leader's exasperated expression that she was chomping at the bit to yell at him, so he might as well get it over with. Plus, he had absolutely no problem with giving back just as much as he was going to get from her. If not more.

Danziger halted directly in front of Devon and both of them were clearly ready for a fight. Neither spoke as they began an intense staring match. As the seconds stretched uncomfortably onward, Cameron's gaze bounced back and forth between the two temperamental personalities as each waited for the other to flinch. Or to begin sniping at one another.

Just when it appeared that Devon was about to explode, the stand-off ended abruptly and rather surprisingly when she suddenly turned and started to walk away.

Danziger gave her retreating back a double-take. "That's it?" he asked, tossing his hands up.

Devon ground to a stop, whipping around to face him in one fluid motion. Her voice was much calmer than he'd expected, especially under the circumstances.

"Yes, that's it. There's no point in even talking to you. You obviously don't listen to a single word that I say."

Even though they weren't technically fighting at the moment, John still felt on the defensive. Maybe it was just habit.

"I listen plenty," he grumped.

Now it was Devon's turn to throw her hands in the air as she turned her back on him and reinitiated the short journey to her tent.

"Adair-" John instinctively called out.

"Leave me alone, Danziger," she spat as she stomped away. "I'm so angry that I don't even want to _look_ at you right now."

She vanished into her quarters without another word, leaving Danziger thoroughly confused.

This was most certainly a new tactic of Devon's and Danziger wasn't sure how to deal with it. Past disagreements between the two were usually settled through confrontation and their short tempers and large egos were always the weapons of choice. To deviate from the established protocol was befuddling to John, and it was even a bit humbling. Maybe Devon had won their fight after all.

The mechanic shuffled his feet back and forth in the snow a few times as Cameron gave him a 'wow, you've really done it this time" look. With a shrug of his shoulders, Danziger sheepishly withdrew from the camp's border and slowly wandered toward the meal tent for coffee. However, blocking his entry was a smirking and thoroughly entertained Alonzo and Walman, who'd clearly been enjoying the floor show.

"So when are you two crazy kids gonna get together?" the pilot asked Danziger jovially as he nodded toward Devon's quarters, eliciting a snicker from Walman.

John was not in the mood to be teased and his prior uneasiness was quickly replaced by irritation. He answered by giving Alonzo his patented death glare which, unfortunately, had just as much of an affect on the sleepjumper as it did on Devon.

"Don't worry," Alonzo chuckled with a gleam in his eye. "I'm sure you two will find a way to work it all out."

"Hey, how 'bout a cage match to the death?" Walman suggested, almost giddily.

"Nah, we gotta give Danz at least a _chance_ of survival!"

"Shut up, Solace," came the terse reply as Danziger barreled past them, practically ripping the doors off of their hinges as he entered.

Walman and Alonzo exchanged another amused chuckle, and they continued their good-natured conversation about Devon and John without the benefit of either leader's presence for another few minutes. As the discussion wound down and the co-workers bid one another good night, Alonzo was struck with an idea.

Though he might not have an actual cage at his disposal, there was a place with a relatively controlled environment that could provide the perfect setup for Devon and Danziger to work out their various issues with one another. Indeed, the pair's last trip to the alternate reality a few weeks before had certainly produced a bounty of useful information, even if neither leader was aware that what they were saying and doing was real, as opposed to images conjured in their own mind.

It would also provide Alonzo with another golden opportunity to hone his Dreamplane skills while the Terrians remained in hibernation, so there was even something in it for him.

And most importantly, Alonzo was more than a bit curious to know if perhaps Devon really did have something that she'd wanted to say to John after all.

* * *

Now that he'd retired to his tent for the evening, Danziger was looking forward to a few hours of peaceful, uninterrupted sleep. These past few weeks had been difficult for him. Months ago, he'd been unfortunate enough to have been infected by a virus which had forced him to recall his past with such clarity that it was as emotionally painful as it had been physical.

As the very private man that he is, he was grateful that his long-time friends Alex and Les, who had also been suffering from the same debilitating illness, were the only witnesses to his many recollections. Moreover, the married couple had actually been present when most of those memories had been created so it wasn't like they were hearing anything new. And after Alex and Les' deaths, Danziger did his best to rebury those many remembrances and try to move forward. Because looking behind him only brought back the many heartbreaks of his past.

But then Dell Curry changed everything.

True had questions. Lots of them. Those implanted dreams opened a door that could never be fully shut again; no matter how hard Danziger pushed. As such, although True was more than ready to meet her mother in VR, Danziger wasn't at all prepared. To make matters worse for him, as the days became colder, Eden Advance had become virtual prisoners in the BioDome with nothing to fill their days. This gave his daughter plenty of opportunities to grill him about Elle, as well as the many nuances of John's relationship with her back on the Space Stations.

After what would feel like endless hours of relaying stories and details of a life that he'd done everything possible to forget, Danziger was left physically drained and emotionally raw. Though he somehow managed to keep it together for his daughter's sake, when the interrogation was complete, the mechanic took the first available opportunity to escape camp. Of course, he knew that it was dangerous to be out by himself at night, but he rationalized that it was more than worth the risk. It was imperative that he spent some time alone to allow him to process the feelings that recalling those memories evoked in him. At times, he felt like his very sanity was at stake.

After checking to ensure that his daughter was asleep, Danziger removed his boots and climbed into his cot fully clothed. As he shut his eyes, his thoughts drifted to Devon. She was obviously furious at him for ignoring her orders and leaving camp again, but he really didn't see what the big deal was. And she'd get over it eventually, he inwardly concluded. After all, she should be used to him breaking the rules by now. It would also be a huge help to everyone if she remembered that, technically, she was no longer the boss. Perhaps he'd remind her of that fact the next time he saw her.

* * *

Danziger felt as though he'd barely closed his eyes when a rustling sound originating from somewhere near the entrance of his tent jostled him back awake. He pried open his tired eyes and forced himself upright in bed. Immediately, he noticed several oddities such as True's conspicuous absence, the significant rise in temperature and much brighter surroundings which suggested that it was daylight, though his chronometer relayed that sunrise was several hours away.

However, he wasn't at all worried about these drastic changes in circumstances because he'd quickly realized that this was familiar territory for him. As a matter of fact, he'd experienced this exact scenario the day prior to his departure on the scout in which he'd ended up lost and delirious due to a spiking fever, only to be rescued by an underground commune of supposedly reformed penal colonists.

This was where he had dreamed of Devon. His mind and his heart had obviously been conflicted about her and it was here that he'd been able to verbalize for the very first time the myriad of emotions that he'd secretly harbored where she was concerned. He'd told her that he'd loved her and that he'd wanted to make a life with her in New Pacifica. The dream had even culminated with a kiss, something else he would never dare to attempt in real life.

It had indeed been helpful to have a safe forum in which to vent his feelings about her without the worry of repercussion. Of course, the apparition of Devon never showed any reaction to his confessions or actions which was an added bonus.

He wondered what he currently needed to work out in his head which prompted his subconscious to return him here. Curious, he shoved his feet back into his boots and made his way to the tent's threshold, pulling back the fabric to reveal the identical field that contained patches of taller grass and shrubbery. And the same generic tent situated about two hundred yards away. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who would be showing up very soon.

He was momentarily distracted by what sounded to him like the snapping of a twig, just beyond his line of sight at the rear of his tent. But before he could investigate the source of the noise, there was a whirlwind of activity at the opposite end of the field. Dream Devon came flying out her quarters and was making a beeline straight for him. And she didn't look happy.

She had immediately begun yelling at him from the moment she'd exited the enclosure. However, even the formidable Devon Adair's voice only carried so far and he missed the first few seconds of her tirade. But that mattered little in the long run. It wasn't like he hadn't heard it all before.

Why in the hell did his mind decide that he needed to endure this, John griped to himself. This was just too damn much. Maybe this is what he should have expected for the unholy trifecta of being overly tired, drinking stale coffee and eating Mazatl's cooking.

He remained just a few steps outside of the tent's threshold and squinted to shield his eyes from the sun's glare, as well as from Devon's fiery expression as she rapidly approached him.

_Hell, thy name is Devon Adair_, John thought to himself as he readied himself for the verbal onslaught.

"I thought that you had nothin' to say to me," he wisecracked in a futile attempt to cut off her tantrum.

"Oh, I have _plenty_ to say!" she hollered, stamping her feet so hard into the dirt as she marched toward him that she left near-perfect impressions of her shoes.

"You're a rude, arrogant jerk! You're void of the most basic of manners! You don't have an ounce of respect for me and for how things run around here!"

Danziger shook his head as the insults continued to spill out of the vision of Devon.

"You know what you are? You're a bully! You don't- you _won't_- listen to anyone else! I've never met anyone so incredibly full of themselves!"

You mean, besides yourself, he inwardly noted.

"I can't believe the nonsense you pulled tonight! Have you gone completely insane?" her rant continued. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you tonight? I swear, sometimes I think you do this to torture me! It's like some sick, twisted thrill of yours!"

"You know what Devon? It's not always about you!" Danziger felt the need to remind her as he became increasingly annoyed. And why the hell was he dreaming this again?

Dream Devon was unfazed by John's comment; probably because she was too busy trying to grind him into mincemeat.

"You don't think about anybody but yourself," she admonished. "That beautiful girl of yours needs her father! And you're off traipsing through the woods in sub-zero temperatures doing God knows what while there's a maniac out there who hunts humans for sport!"

John's eyes narrowed to slits. "Whalen's no threat to us!"

Devon responded by shaking her head so violently that, if this had been real, Danziger would worry that she was endangering the health of her neck and spine.

"There's no way for you to know that! Just because Dell Currey's dreams are no longer haunting him doesn't mean that he's back to normal! The man is unbalanced! He didn't hesitate to string up Morgan and that was _after_ he got the information he needed! What do you think he'd do to you if you two accidentally crossed paths?"

Danziger had to admit that Devon had a valid point. The members of Eden Advance had seen hide nor hair of Whalen since disengaging the hologram that projected those dreams into their subconsciouses. The group had collectively stayed clear of his cabin and everyone involved seemed to employ an 'if you don't bother me, I won't bother you' approach. However, there was really no way to know if that outlook would continue indefinitely, though Danziger certainly hoped that they'd seen the last of the crazed mountain man.

As John realized this, he also surmised that this must be the reason that he was dreaming about Devon again. Deep down he knew that, as much as he appreciated the privacy that leaving camp afforded him, he was continually putting himself at too great a risk and he had to stop.

And for some ridiculous reason which he consciously chose not to explore, he'd needed those warnings to be screamed at him by the vision of a woman with a God-complex to end all God-complexes. Danziger had no idea what that strange detail said about him as a person, but the lesson about venturing out at night had been learned nonetheless, he supposed.

Despite this breakthrough, the mechanic's expression remained one of hostility. Meanwhile, Devon continued to shake life a leaf. A really, really angry leaf.

"Anything else?" he scoffed, his tone practically challenging her to another round of verbal combat.

He crossed his arms smugly while Devon seemed to become enraged. She took in and then exhaled a string of large gulps of air, putting her on the brink of hyperventilation. Her entire face reddened and she exhibited a volcano of emotions as both of her hands clenched into tight fists. Danziger barely had time to process that it appeared that he was about to be punched in the jaw when Dream Devon lunged at him.

But to John's great shock, instead of instigating an act of physical violence, Devon's hands wrapped around the back of his neck and roughly yanked him to her, plastering his lips against her own. Rather than focus on his surprise and confusion, John allowed instinct to immediately kick in and he returned the sentiment, matching her intensity. After several seconds of frenzied, uncontrolled passion, Devon pulled back just enough to break their kiss.

"I'm in love with you, John," she confessed in a breathless whisper, sounding as desperate as he'd ever heard her. "And there's a part of me that hates you for it."

Before Danziger could decipher what the hell Devon was talking about, their mouths were rejoined in an ever deepening embrace. Desire reigned supreme as their arms pretzeled around one another in a quest for mutual exploration. Hoping to continue this new, rather enthusiastic trend back in his tent- or, more specifically, on his cot- John took a few small paces backward, silently urging Devon to match his movements. She complied, and when John felt the brush of nylon against his back, he unsnaked one of his arms from Devon's waist in order to part the fabric and sweep it open enough to permit them entry.

But just as he crossed the threshold, the vision of Devon suddenly tore free from his hold. He was barely able to maintain his footing as he was propelled backward several steps, partially obscuring his face in the room's shadow.

"Devon," John croaked out, attempting to regain his physical and emotional equilibrium.

He took a step toward her, prompting a backward step from Devon, keeping them equidistant. Both were still struggling to slow their rapid breaths and wildly beating hearts as an obviously flustered Devon retreated even further. Her bewildered, desirous eyes remained trained on John as she stumbled back several paces before ultimately swiveling her body around and hightailing it back across the field without another word.

John stood there dumbfounded as he watched her vanish into the faraway tent. He briefly considered following her or, at the very least, calling out to her to reconsider her actions, but decided against it. It was obvious to him that there must have been a very good reason for his subconscious to decide that Dream Devon had to leave. He hoped that one day he'd figure it out. Because he'd been really looking forward to seeing where his subconscious would have taken them; though he had a pretty good idea.

However, all in all, the latter part of his dream more than made up for all of that screaming at the beginning and it was good to end on a high note, Danziger concluded as he ripped off his boots and tossed them across his nearly empty tent.

He stretched out onto his cot, hoping that he woke up soon. He was certainly going to have to make good use of the freezing winter temperature, since there were no cold showers available.

As he shut his eyes, his mouth arched upward into a sideways grin.

_Heaven, thy name is Devon Adair._


	2. Chapter 2

Timeline: Directly after the events of "Brave New Pacifica"

Devon sank into her chair in the BioDome, emotionally and physically exhausted. Indeed, it had been one very long day for her, as well as for Danziger, Julia and Alonzo. That morning, the small group had stumbled upon a mysterious vacuum that served as a time/space fold; or as Julia had so aptly put it, it had seemed to be the planet's rapid transit system. They'd used the anomaly to travel several thousand miles to a beach which they'd mistakenly thought to be the shores of the Sea of Antius.

Among the afternoon's many draining activities, Julia and Danziger had been temporarily lost and, once found, the foursome had hiked several kilometers along the coastline in the search for the Comm Dish before finally realizing that they'd been transported thousands of miles in the opposite direction of New Pacifica. To further complicate matters, the group had accidentally disrupted the polarity of the surrounding spider webs which had stranded them at their current location. And just when they thought that things couldn't get worse, Alonzo had suffered the strange effects of a spider bite which had prompted a burst of physical aggression from Danziger.

Now that those issues had been more or less resolved and the four of them had returned safely and soundly to the slightly less dangerous confines of their winter camp, Devon had at last been provided an opportunity to reflect on the day's many events. And despite the abundance of information that she'd learned about G889 that day, she found herself more fixated upon the bombshell that John Danziger had dropped on her just after sunrise. In fact, many hours later, she had yet to recover from or even fully process the ramifications that his decision would have on Eden Advance. And on her.

He had been planning to leave Eden Advance and scout ahead with Alonzo.

If Devon Adair hadn't heard it from John's own lips, she would never have believed it. The mechanic had initiated everything from establishing a projected time line, to estimating their ground coverage, to the scheduling of their already drastically cut rations, to the construction of a long range beacon system using spare parts, to making the necessary arrangements for his daughter's care. Danziger had even gone so far as to design G889's first snowshoes. And all of this had been accomplished without consulting her or even alerting her of his monumental undertaking.

_"It won't be so bad getting there."_

Devon set her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands, letting out a strained sigh. Comments like his only served as a painful reminder to her that the group's dynamics would eventually be irreparably altered.

No, of course it won't be so bad getting to New Pacifica, despite the various inherent dangers of trekking across an unknown planet with unknown variables, Devon reflected sadly as she buried her face further into her hands.

Danziger's subsequent statement that he was glad that New Pacifica was on the coastline also didn't make much of a difference in Devon's mind after she remembered that, once Eden Advance had built a colony from scratch and the Jamestown arrived within a year, John would be abandoning this new life that he'd worked so hard to establish on G889 in order to return to the much less green pastures of the sterile Space Stations.

Danziger had made friends here and Devon couldn't fathom how or why he could just pick up and leave after all that they'd experienced together. How could he choose to leave the colorful, limitless paradise of G889 for the strangling infrastructure of the Stations where everything is black and white; where his wide range of skills would be perpetually stifled due to something as ridiculous as birthright and his keen intellect would never be appreciated or nurtured to achieve its full potential?

There was little doubt in Devon's mind that John Danziger had changed for the better since his arrival on G889. Of course, he was certainly still a constant thorn in her side and one of the most bullheaded men that she'd ever met. Yet over these past few weeks- especially recently- he'd seemed to mellow a bit, though it wasn't readily apparent unless one looked closely for it. And though he wasn't always successful, he appeared to be making a concerted effort to improve his demeanor as they worked alongside each other.

A perfect example of John taking positive strides to modify his behavior for the better had occurred about two weeks before. After repeatedly being warned not to stray beyond the perimeters alone after dark, Devon had caught Danziger red-handed as he'd snuck back into camp in the middle of the night. It had almost escalated into yet another one of their loud altercations where hurtful words and accusations were tossed around, but nothing was ever resolved. But that night, Devon had tried something different.

She hadn't resorted to threats or to screaming at him and, instead, she'd chosen to simply walk away. And although she was at a loss as to why, somehow this had done the trick for Danziger. After that night, he'd never left camp alone again. It had been an amazing breakthrough in their working relationship.

Devon inwardly pat herself on the back for thinking outside of the box on that one. Perhaps she was changing for the better, too.

She leaned back in her chair, gazing blankly at the ceiling as she retreated further inward. That had also been the night that she'd dreamed of John for the second time. Danziger's knack for eliciting extreme reactions from her had held true and she remembered being so filled with rage that she was ready to throttle him- even the dream version of him. As such, Devon had exited that tent loaded for bear. And despite the restraint she'd managed to exhibit in real life just hours before, it had felt extremely satisfying to unload all of her emotions on him. And unload on him she had.

Devon exhaled another sigh as she recalled the moment that their acrimony had evolved into a passionate embrace. She'd been careful not to let her fantasy get away from her and when she'd started to lose control- as soon as she'd imagined that Danziger had wanted her as much as she'd wanted him- she promptly put a halt to the proceedings.

Of course, she hadn't really wanted to stop, but she knew in her heart that imagining John as her lover would have taken things too far. Though it would have felt right, in many ways it would have also felt wrong. And the worst of it would have been waking up and knowing that none of it had been real; and that it would never ever happen in real life. That simply would have been too much of a disappointment to bear.

The swinging of the double doors behind her shook Devon from her reverie and she lowered her head to view Alonzo as he made his way over to the nearby coffee station.

"You still up, huh?" the pilot asked as he poured himself a cup of the lukewarm brew.

"Couldn't sleep," Devon sighed, her gaze centering in on his slightly swollen face. "How's your jaw feeling?"

"Sore," Alonzo relayed with honesty, instinctively rubbing at the ever-deepening bruise. "It's probably gonna be turning some interesting colors over the next few days."

He leaned against the table and added with a slight wink, "Good thing I'm already under a doctor's care."

Devon failed to see any humor in the situation. "I still don't understand what happened between you two," she exclaimed, shaking her head. "Why on earth did Danziger punch you?"

Alonzo paused a moment in obvious consideration before shrugging his shoulders noncommittally. "You'll have to ask him."

Displeased with Alonzo's evasiveness and with her exhausted body appealing to her brain that it required immediate rest, Devon rose to her feet.

"Maybe I will," she declared before wishing him goodnight and returning to her tent before sleep could fully claim her.

After she'd left, Alonzo brought the mug to his lips and arched his head backward, emptying its contents. It sounded to him as if Devon and Danziger had some issues that needed to be worked out in light of today's events. Well, that could be easily rectified, the sleep-jumper inwardly concluded. .

"Yep," he parroted under his breath, the mirth returning to his eyes. "Maybe you will."

* * *

It felt good to get some much needed sleep, Danziger inwardly acknowledged as he shut his eyes. He'd already had a full day of constant activity thanks to the spider caves, yet to his initial dismay, he'd originally been scheduled for eight hours of sentry duty. But thankfully, Baines had generously offered to trade guard shifts with him which would permit him a full night's rest. The mechanic had appreciated the kind gesture and he was gratified to have friends who looked out for his best interests and were watching his back.

Of course, he hadn't been allowed to go straight to bed because True was practically jumping out of her skin in excitement from the moment of his return from the East coast. She'd ended up keeping him awake for a good portion of the evening, bursting with questions about his latest adventure and begging to be regaled with detailed descriptions of practically every wave and grain of sand that he'd seen while standing on the shoreline. He'd felt terrible for not having the foresight to bring her a seashell as a souvenir, but he'd done his best to describe them. At last, True had fallen asleep, though she'd insisted that she be draped in Danziger's Ops jacket because it still smelled of salt.

Of course, he'd been sure to thoroughly inspect the pockets for spiders before relinquishing it to her.

Danziger smiled as he thought about his little girl and her intense yearning for the ocean. He couldn't wait for her to experience the sensations for real when they finally reached New Pacifica. Not only would the coastland setting be a perfect fit for her, she deserved it. And as far as John was concerned, he owed it to her. He was determined to give True the world, and that sandy beach outlining the Sea of Antius was just another small piece of it.

John's introspections next drifted to Devon. Although he would never have considered the possibility if he hadn't witnessed it first-hand, she seemed to belong on a beach, too. It was hard to believe that this was the same woman who'd been the darling of the Station news chips and had always appeared perfectly coiffed and composed. Back then, Devon had rarely permitted a strand of hair out of place or a wrinkle in her seemingly endless wardrobe of three thousand credit business suits. But today she had looked incredibly natural as she'd casually walked along the surf with wind-tousled hair, bare feet, and her pants haphazardly rolled up to just below her knees. Danziger definitely liked Devon much better this way and he hoped that she continued to embrace this new, more casual image after New Pacifica was up and running.

As he finally drifted off to sleep, his mind centered in on the hours-old memory of standing with Devon alone as they admired the quiet simplicity of the East coast shoreline.

_"It won't be so bad getting there." _

He'd told her this and he'd meant it. John couldn't help but wonder if she'd felt the same.

* * *

Despite his exhaustion, Danziger was unable to resist a sudden overpowering urge to open his eyes. Though he remained outstretched in his cot, he immediately realized that he wasn't actually awake. Once again, he'd been unwittingly thrust center stage into the same conditions that he'd become familiar with in the previous two dreams: the absence of True, the warmer temperature and the lighter surroundings. However, by far, the most telltale hint that he wasn't truly awake was the presence of Devon sitting directly next to him on his bed, staring at him intently. There was no way in hell that that would ever happen in real life.

Danziger immediately made the assumption that, for some reason as yet unknown to him, the recesses of his subconscious had decided that he needed another reality check of some sort. And whatever the trouble was, his obviously twisted mind had chosen to again have the image of Devon show up to present the issue to him. And despite the few seconds where they'd kissed passionately, if the rest of the last dream was any indication as to how the facts would be presented to him, Devon would likely be screaming at him at the top of her lungs. Just perfect.

Danziger let out a tired groan. Unfortunately, he couldn't blame this newest bout with his conscience on Mazatl's cooking. If this trend continued, the mechanic wondered if he would need to seek professional help in order to rid Devon from his mind. Or maybe an exorcism.

"What now, Adair?" John grimaced, hoping to get this over with so he could get some real rest.

Devon was unfazed by his negative attitude. She was more than used to it by now.

"You're an extremely difficult man, do you know that?" she relayed in a no-nonsense tone.

John shrugged. "Yeah, I do."

Ask an honest question, get an honest answer, he reasoned. Besides, didn't they cover this ground already in the last dream? At least this time she wasn't screeching out her insults.

But one thing that Danziger wasn't so thrilled about was the fact that Dream Devon was looming over him as he laid in bed. To rectify the situation, he pushed himself up to the seated position to enable them to meet eye to eye.

"Sometimes I don't know what to do with you," she continued in sincerity. "But I've come to believe that the only thing worse than having you around is _not_ having you around."

"Thanks. I think," he replied, trying to keep his eyes from rolling out of his head.

Let's just get these backhanded compliments over with so I can find out why the hell I'm here, he inwardly plead with his psyche. He just wanted to get some sleep.

Devon exuded a deep sigh. "You challenge me, John. I mean, there have been a few times when you've seriously made me question my sanity. And there's certainly been other times when you've seriously made me question _your_ sanity. I don't think that I've ever yelled as much as I have these past five months."

"That's just cuz you're always used to gettin' your way," he exclaimed honestly and without malice. More than a tinge of smugness was added to the mix as he furthered, "'Bout time someone stood up to you."

Dream Devon cracked a smile. "Maybe it is," she conceded; an admission that she would never ever voice aloud while awake.

Her expression turned serious. "Today, when you were stuck in that dead-end tunnel and we thought that something terrible might've happened to you, I was scared to death. I told Alonzo that, even if we could've used the tunnels to bring everyone to New Pacifica, but we lost someone in the process, it wouldn't be worth it."

Well, that's not _exactly_ what you said, but close enough, Danziger thought to himself. He briefly wondered why his subconscious' version of Devon hadn't repeated her actual words back to him verbatim. After all, despite being just around the corner from where the exchange between Devon and Alonzo had taken place, along with being practically buried up to his neck in rock and debris- not to mention breathing in enough dust to choke an entire warren of Grendlers- John had been pretty damn sure that he'd heard a slightly different version of that conversation. Maybe he was just remembering it wrong.

Meanwhile, Devon implored in her most persuasive tone, "I don't want to lose you, John. And I don't want you to leave. Don't scout ahead with Alonzo."

She took a breath before adding, "And when we reach New Pacifica, don't go back to the Stations. Stay with us. Stay with me."

There was only a slight pause before Danziger answered softly, "Okay."

Devon arched back in surprise. "Okay? Really?"

"We've been through this. I'm not leaving on the colony ship," the mechanic stated, attempting to remind his psyche that this issue had been resolved weeks before in his first dream of Devon.

He added with a shrug. "And as for scouting ahead, seems I don't have much of a choice since 'Lonz bailed on me earlier tonight. Apparently, he'd rather stick around here and freeze his ass off with Julia. Go figure."

As Danziger spoke, it hit him for the first time that, though he'd initially considered asking Walman or Magus to replace Alonzo on the months long journey, in truth, his heart just wasn't in it. As far as Danziger was concerned, the scout was permanently canceled, and not just because of Alonzo's cold feet, but because Danziger wanted to stay with the group, too.

And he was more than a bit surprised by the self-revelation. After all, he'd spent weeks organizing the many details of the trip to ensure that he would be physically prepared for any and all obstacles that might be tossed into their snow covered path. However, the mechanic now acknowledged that he'd done little to nothing to prepare himself for the emotional upheaval of being cutoff from his friends and family in Eden Advance. And that made a world of difference.

"So I guess I'm stuck here, too," he declared.

At first, Devon appeared extremely relieved, but then her face saddened a bit.

"I wish it was all this easy," she relayed wistfully, forcing herself to remember that the real world was much more complicated than the inner musings of her mind as she slept. How she longed to be able to communicate with Danziger this efficiently and fluently while she was awake. If only John were as patient and forthcoming as the man she'd imagined him to be in her dreams.

"Yeah, well, nothin' worth its salt is ever easy, Adair. But it'll all work out in the end."

Danziger seemed to realize that his statement could have been easily mistaken for Devon's all but patented brand of head-in-the-sand idealism. As such, he was compelled to balance his comments with an equal dose of negativity. He just couldn't help himself.

"Or maybe it won't work out. Who the hell knows? Neither of us has a shankin' crystal ball or anything."

John's unique version of realism was Devon's cue that maybe it was time to end this dream before it disintegrated into a nightmare. She had all day to listen to the real Danziger's seemingly interminable state of pessimism if she'd wanted to experience that.

"Where are you goin'?" he asked in surprise as the apparition of Devon stood up and made her way toward the exit. And here he'd been hoping that the two of them could pick up where they'd left off in the prior dream.

Devon completely ignored John's question as she reached the threshold, instead posing a query of her own.

"Why did you punch Alonzo?"

There was a devilish twinkle in Danziger's eyes that Devon couldn't help but find disarming, as much as she tried to fight it.

"Maybe someday I'll tell you," he offered with a sideways grin.

Devon lifted the nylon flap before returning his smile with one of her own.

"Maybe you will," she relayed, unknowingly mirroring Alonzo's words from earlier in the evening.

Devon didn't give John an opportunity to offer any further comment as she strode into the false sunlight, allowing the fabric to fall to a close behind her. Her thoughts were completely centered on Danziger and this newest imagined conversation with his illusion as she crossed the field and entered her own simulated tent.

As Devon climbed into her cot, she remained completely confounded that, as often as she'd envisioned strangling the breath out of Danziger, she also couldn't picture her life without him there to harass her on a constant basis. Obviously, her inner conflict was serious enough that it was continuing to affect her sleep patterns. And she was grateful for it. In fact, she very much hoped that she dreamed of him again soon.

Devon closed her eyes and, several hours later, awoke feeling refreshed and ready to attack the day. Always one of the first to rise, the leader began her morning ritual by braving the subzero temperature and persevering to the BioDome for coffee. She was powerless to stifle a broad smile when she opened the door to view Danziger, who had just finished brewing a large canister of the hot liquid and was in the process of pouring himself a mug.

It was almost as if he was waiting for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Timeline: During the events of "After The Thaw"

It had been an especially frightening night for Devon and the rest of Eden Advance. After it was revealed that Alonzo had been the crew-member who'd been overtaken by the ancient Terrian's energy, the entire group- except for Baines who'd remained firmly ensconced in the locked cab of the Transrover- had searched for the pilot the rest of the night.

Everyone was on edge, particularly Danziger, whose impatience had gone into overdrive. After his cheek had been slashed by the possessed sleepjumper, John had barely tolerated what he'd deemed to be Julia's unnecessary medical treatment before insisting on his return to the hunt.

Devon had been eternally grateful for Danziger's assistance these past strange days since the frozen Terrian had been exhumed and brought back to camp. In fact, his leadership was one of the main reasons that the entire group hadn't completely unraveled.

Thankfully, his previously planned long range scout ahead of Eden Advance had been permanently canceled. When she'd gone to John for an explanation as to why the trip had been scrapped, he'd cited several reasons including True's objections to his lengthy absence, Alonzo's change of heart, the fact that no one else would likely agree to go in Alonzo's place and most importantly, that without John around to keep Devon's raging egomania in check, she would probably impose martial law or anoint herself Queen of G889 or some-such nonsense. When it came down to it, Devon didn't care about the reason why he didn't leave; just as long as he remained with them. And with her.

However, it was becoming abundantly clear that this latest incident was taking a heavy toll on the mechanic. In fact, he'd seemed to be getting more and more aggressive by the minute. Devon did her very best to ignore a worrisome anxiety building deep within the pit of her stomach that there could be more to Danziger's hostile overtones than meets the eye. Instead, she chose to concentrate on the quest to finally locate Alonzo and to somehow extract the Terrian's essence from him.

And after that task had been completed, she understood that there would be quite a bit of emotional and physical damage-control needed in order to return things to the way they'd been before. She hoped that the harm inflicted on Danziger and the other members of Eden Advance wasn't irreparable. It was important that everyone move past this unfortunate episode and look ahead to the future.

* * *

After many hours of scouring the surrounding landscape without results, Devon concluded that it would be more conducive to organize shifts of search teams in order to cover ground more efficiently. She returned to the BioDome and called in half of the crew to allow them a few hours rest while the others continued to scan the vicinity.

Among those chosen to come back were Julia and an at-first unwilling Danziger who had balked at the prospect of retreating to camp without the missing pilot in hand. Devon was determined to concentrate on larger issues and paid little to no attention to Danziger's protests, reminding herself that she should be more than used to his defiant behavior by now.

Fragments of sunlight were already peeking in between the distant mountains when Devon briefly returned to her quarters. As she seated herself on her cot, her sole intention had been to exchange her snow-saturated socks and pants for drier counterparts. However, Devon had given into her exhaustion and had allowed her eyes to close just long enough for the world as she knew it to disappear.

She was dreaming.

Before she even had time to open her eyes, there was a hard tug on her arm, literally pulling her out of her simulated cot and to the standing position. Her blurred focus sharpened almost immediately and she was gripped with fear as she was yanked forward several paces by none other than Alonzo Solace.

Initially, a burst of terror shot down Devon's spine at the sight of the pilot, but she quickly deduced that he- and the Ancient Terrian dwelling inside of him- was of no threat to her. After all, she obviously hadn't been transported to the Dreamplane against her will because there was no resemblance between that alternate reality and the current landscape. This was nothing more than a regular dream and she was perfectly safe. It wasn't as if this was really happening.

"Come with me," Alonzo directed, his tone somehow nervous yet commanding at the same time. "And keep your voice low."

"What's going on?" Devon asked, still confused as to why she was there.

She recognized her surroundings as the place in her mind where she'd imagined meeting Danziger several times. What in heaven's name was she doing here with Alonzo?

"Just hurry. We may not have much time," Alonzo exclaimed as he all but dragged her across the field.

The pilot knew that he couldn't disclose or go into a complicated explanation about him waiting for Devon to fall asleep in order to bring her to the Dreamscape. He fully understood that, by doing so, it would have inevitably brought up a host of questions from the leader about her prior trips to the alternate reality and her various interactions with John. Right now, there were much more important matters to address and time was of the essence. Their very lives were at stake.

The duo slowed as they reached the entrance of Danziger's quarters, who'd also been unwittingly transported to the Dreamplane the moment he'd fallen asleep. Alonzo carefully parted the crease just enough to permit Devon a peek inside. Danziger was sitting on his bed with both feet on the ground. He was hunched forward with his elbows placed on his knees, his chin resting in his hands.

"John," Devon whispered, emotions involuntarily stirring within her at the sight of him.

"No, that's not Danziger," Alonzo was quick to correct her. "Take a good look at him, Devon. Look into his eyes."

Devon squinted into the semi-darkness of the tent. Unfortunately, due to the overall dimness and the placement of Danziger's bed in the room, she was unable to decipher the nuances of the mechanic's face beyond his general profile.

Alonzo continued, "The Terrian isn't inside me. It chose Danziger. He's the one. And in your heart, you know it's true."

"It- it can't be," she gasped in disbelief.

"It is," the pilot insisted, closing the fabric without detection. "Think about how strange John has been acting. He was even caught in a lie. That first day after we brought the Terrian back, he said that he'd dreamed about fighting it just like the rest of us. But when you called me in to test me, he denied having the dream."

Devon paused in deep contemplation as she recalled the incident from just a few hours before. So much had transpired during those tense few moments in which a crazed Alonzo had brandished a knife and had insisted that Danziger had been the crew-member chosen as the ancient Terrian's new host. It had been Danziger's word against Alonzo's and, as she remembered it now, she'd taken Danziger's side without a second thought. In fact, it had never even occurred to her to consider otherwise. That, in itself, was a sobering realization.

And after the violent scene had culminated with Alonzo slicing John across the cheek and then escaping into the darkness for parts unknown, the mechanic's comments about the lack of a Terrian dream had gone completely over Devon's head. But there was no doubt now that the vision of Alonzo was right. Danziger had lied.

"We can still save him, Devon. We can separate John from the energy that's taken over. But we don't have much time. The Terrian's life force grows stronger by the minute and, if we wait much longer, we'll never get John back."

Alonzo understood that, with Danziger's life in such a precarious balance, it was no time to mince words.

"If we don't do something soon, at best, Danziger's soul will be trapped and we'll lose him forever. At worst, his body won't be able to contain the energy and he'll end up like that Grendler. If we don't stop it now, that thing'll keep searching for a new host until it destroys us all."

Devon was clearly overwhelmed by the possibility. Her face went ashen while her mind flashed to the gruesome remains of the Grendler who had literally imploded. My God, what if this was actually _true_?

"What should I do?" she finally sputtered out.

"Danziger," he paused to clarify, "I mean, the Terrian inside of him'll probably figure out any moment now that I'm in the underground caves. In fact, feel free to suggest the possibility. And when he decides to come for me, let him," Alonzo instructed. "You should come, too, because I might need your help. And if you can, bring Julia."

The pilot let out an apprehensive sigh and he briefly averted his eyes. "Because one or both of us will probably need medical attention when this is all over."

Devon drank in what she'd believed to be her subconscious in the form of Alonzo was telling her. Sure enough, as much as she didn't want to accept it, in her heart she knew that it made perfect sense that John was the one who'd actually been infected with the Terrian's energy. Moreover, it wouldn't be a large jump in logic to conclude that the creature inside of Danziger would realize that Alonzo's close ties with its Terrian descendants would likely pose one of the greatest threats to its survival. It was no wonder that Alonzo ran for his life.

Devon's gut twisted itself into knots as she considered what Danziger might be going through right now. Was he unconscious and completely oblivious to the knowledge that his body had been commandeered by a thousands year old invader, rendering it as little more than a life-sized puppet? Or was he painfully aware of his predicament and was powerless to stop it? Could he currently be engaged in a life and death struggle with the energy force in a futile attempt to regain control before he vanished altogether?

Whatever the mechanic's present state of mind might be, Devon sincerely hoped that he wasn't suffering in any way. The mere thought of John in such pain made her nauseous.

The desperate need to see Danziger- or at least the image of him- compelled Devon to step forward and draw back the tent's crease to enable her a lingering look.

"Devon, don't!" Alonzo harshly whispered, lunging forward in a futile attempt to stop her.

Too late, the pair had no choice but to peer in to view the shell of Danziger's former self. He'd emerged from the shadows and was standing now, his posturing and mannerisms slightly off-kilter, baring little to no resemblance to the way in which he normally carried himself. At that moment, he was staring at both outstretched hands in an odd display of curiosity and disgust as he flexed and unflexed his fingers.

"John," Devon called out to him.

Danziger's entire frame turned to her in one fluid motion. His expression was hard and unforgiving.

"What is this place?" he demanded before looking beyond Devon to view Alonzo's presence directly behind her.

"You," he spat as if there was acid on his tongue.

Devon entered the dwelling and quickly closed the distance between herself and the mechanic. John's look was stony and distant as she tried to block his path.

"I have no business with you," he declared, his already deep voice at least an octave lower and raspy in nature. To Devon, he sounded almost beastly; most certainly not human.

Refusing to budge, Devon lifted her chin to gaze into his eyes.

"I know you're in there somewhere, John. And I promise you that we'll figure out a way to bring you back to us," she vowed, obviously still clueless that she was currently on the Dreamscape and that Alonzo had also dragged Danziger- or what was left of him- to the same alternate reality.

"Get out of my way. You are nothing to me," Danziger growled, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders and squeezing hard.

Paralyzed by shock, Devon could only stare into his eyes which began to emit an ever-increasing amber-like glow.

Her ears were then deluged with a myriad of noise and it was difficult for her to separate the overlapping sounds. As the reverberations quickly intensified, she could make out her own pounding heartbeat, a multitude of Terrian trills which came across as screams, a piercing combination of ringing and static, as well as the desperate pleas from Alonzo telling her to 'wake up' and to 'hurry.' And although his mouth didn't twitch, there was a animalistic roar emanating from Danziger. Devon felt as though her eardrums were about to burst and she was barely able to stifle her cries of pain. She clamped her eyes shut, doing her best to concentrate on willing herself to wake up.

Suddenly Devon lurched upward in bed and she emitted a series of strangled gasps. Streams of perspiration trailed down her face despite the tent's below freezing temperature, and her heart continued to thump wildly in her chest. It took several moments for her breathing to stabilize, as well as for her widened eyes to retract to their normal size.

Once she'd regained enough of her equilibrium for rational thought, Devon was quick to remind herself that what she'd experienced was only a nightmare- but one in which she'd found a way to verbalize and visualize her darkest suspicions. As she digested what she'd learned, she attempted to put as many of the puzzle pieces in their place as she could based upon the information that she already had. She then did her best to logically fill in many of the remaining gaping holes.

Regarding Alonzo's current whereabouts, Devon was certain that he'd been privy to the navigational coordinates and had general knowledge as to where the Elder's caves were located, so it would make perfect sense that he'd seek sanctuary there. Devon wondered if the ancient Terrian was so focused on hunting Alonzo because it considered the sleepjumper to be a threat to its survival, undoubtedly due to his psychic connection with the modern version of the species.

If Devon followed the wisdom imparted to her via her dream, it might be possible that Alonzo, the Elder and/or even the hibernating Terrians could find a way to help exorcise the demon from Danziger. And based upon the eviscerated Grendler whose body had been unable to contain the energy, they needed to get John to those caves and figure out a solution as soon as possible.

Devon continued to calm herself as she concocted a tentative plan of action. After glancing at her chronometer, she scoured her memory for which members of the crew were still out looking for Alonzo and the specific areas they'd been tasked to search. She exuded a small groan when she realized which crew-member would need to be forcibly turned into her co-conspirator.

She wedged her gearset into her auburn strands and was careful to select a private channel which couldn't be monitored by anyone but the recipient of her call.

She punched in the appropriate code. "Morgan, please respond," she beckoned.

The bureaucrat obviously wasn't expecting her call and several seconds passed before his slightly off-kilter image appeared onscreen.

"Devon, I, uh, there's been no sign of Alonzo," he relayed in between bits of static, obviously struggling to affix his unseen gearset.

He took a much needed moment to shove the equipment squarely onto his head to resolve the problem before adding, "That snow overnight covered any tracks he might've left. He could be halfway to New Pacifica by now."

Devon ignored his comment. "Where are you now?"

"I can't feel my toes so I'm on my way back," he replied, arching his head backward as he noticed an important detail. "Why are we on a secure channel?"

The leader again sidestepped the question. "How far away are you from camp?"

"About half a click, give or take." He paused to zealously bang on a small apparatus with his gloved fist just out of camera view. "This compass is worthless. If I don't show up in the next half hour, you all need to start sending out search parties for _me_."

Despite Morgan's proclivity toward the theatrics, Devon knew that it was important that both of them remain concentrated on the task at hand.

"I want you to listen closely because I need you to do something very important. When you get back, come straight to the BioDome. I want you to announce to everyone in the room that you'd found Alonzo's boot prints and the tracks were heading northeast. Got it?"

The former liaison gawked at Devon as if she'd grown a second head. "Why?" he posed. "I mean, uh, I was just there and I didn't see a thing."

"You're going to have to trust me on this," Devon advised. "And it's imperative that you don't tell anyone the truth until after we've left camp."

"Who's 'we?' And why would you leave camp to follow imaginary tracks?"

The apprehension continued to be written all over Morgan's face as he spoke. In fact, based upon the leader's unusual request and the oddity of her voice and expression, he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps _Devon_, not Alonzo, was the one inhabited by the Ancient Terrian. The suspicion was certainly enough to convince him to stay clear of her when he returned.

"I know what I'm doing," Devon insisted, her patience waning.

"Well, I'm glad that _you_ do," came the more than slightly snarky reply.

Devon was growing more exasperated by the second. "Just do it, Morgan! There's no time to argue and you'll understand soon enough," she snapped. "Adair out."

She abruptly ended the transmission, having neither the time nor the inclination to wait for Morgan's acknowledgment. And she thought that Danziger was bad at following her orders!

Her gearset stayed firmly on her head as she rocketed to her feet. She hastily threw on her coat, fully understanding that it was important that she return to the BioDome as soon as possible to give the appearance that finding Alonzo was still her highest priority. She also began to mentally brace herself for the harsh reality that Danziger- or at least the entity that had hijacked his body- would already be there and she'd be forced to interact with him as if she hadn't figured out the truth.

Devon was all but certain that when Danziger was told the ruse about finding the pilot's tracks, he'd be chomping at the bit to get to those caves as fast as he could. And she'd insist on accompanying him, along with Julia whose medical expertise would likely be required. Once there, the leader would have to put her trust in Alonzo and the other underground inhabitants that something could be done to separate Danziger from the demon within him before it was too late.

_This is going to work_, Devon continued to inwardly assure herself as she briskly marched toward the Dome. The Elder and the caves were the key to bringing John back to them. They had to be.

She hoped.


	4. Chapter 4

Timeline: During the events of "Survival Of The Fittest"

Devon Adair was absolutely beside herself. In fact, she'd felt completely powerless and overwhelmed. How could this have happened?

Fifteen days ago, Julia, Alonzo, Morgan and Danziger had embarked on a search for Cargo Pod #9 after Morgan had picked up its weak signal, courtesy of the Transrover's upgraded sensors which had originally been fashioned to locate an elusive Dell Curry. After their initial euphoria had dulled and reality had set in, it was acknowledged that venturing to Pod #9 would be a risky mission due to its length, its likely treacherous route through unknown territory and the alarming lack of food which would barely be enough to sustain them. As such, Eden Advance had been hesitant about committing four crew-members to the arduous task. However, there were three much-desired vehicles on the manifest which would mean four needed drivers, after taking into account the Dunerail already in their possession.

There was also a plethora of medical supplies on the inventory list and this dictated that Julia should be there to supervise which items to take now and which to leave behind to be retrieved at a later date. Alonzo accompanied the crew because, simply put, he didn't want to be separated from Julia for such a large span of time. Morgan's cabin fever had escalated to the point that he'd actually volunteered for the mission, despite the many perils of the journey.

As for John Danziger, he'd barely been given enough time to learn about and to fully process the scope of the havoc wreaked on him and the rest of Eden Advance after the Ancient Terrian energy had taken over his body. Instead, he'd centered his concentration on immediately stepping forward to organize and lead this newest scout. Among his many reasons were that he'd wanted to personally oversee the packing of the pod's general stockpile and to ensure that the chosen items were loaded as tightly as possible without overstraining the vehicles.

Devon had tried to impart as much wisdom- as well as a few gentle threats- to Danziger as she could before he'd left. Among other things, she'd told him not to risk his life needlessly and that he was much more important than three cases of spirolina and two solar converters. He'd brushed her off, stating that those three cases of food could be the difference between Eden Advance living and starving to death.

"I'm not comin' back here empty handed," he'd sworn to her, and she'd believed him.

If only she'd realized then that Danziger's zeal to keep his friends and family alive had yet again far outweighed his own efforts at self-preservation.

Almost a week ago, Yale had recalculated the Pod's coordinates and had deduced that its signal burst had likely been a final explosion, prompting Devon to make a desperate appeal to Danziger to turn back. Instead, John had ignored her pleas and the group had plowed forward, venturing yet another two days past fail safe with little to no expectation of success. And now it was likely too late to save any of them.

It had been more than sixty hours since the scouting party's already spotty gear transmissions had ceased entirely. Since that time, they seemed to be stationary with just a single gear signal serving as a general beacon. The Edenites at the BioDome had no idea what could have happened. Had there been an accident of some kind? Were there injuries? Or worse? What if the homing device had simply fallen out of the moving vehicle and Yale and Walman were racing toward the wrong location? Could the party be hunkered down in a cave or a temporary shelter of some kind awaiting rescue? Or were they stranded out in the open, exposed to the unforgiving weather, along with any number of unknown predators? Had they somehow been lucky enough to locate a food or water source?

As much as Devon tried, she could not share True's unflinching belief that her father would find a way to pull himself and the others through whatever hell they were currently experiencing. In fact, the leader's normally overt optimism had disintegrated into despondence and dread. She hadn't slept in days and barely tolerated any food in her stomach because she was too overpowered by guilt. After all, how could she possibly eat knowing that Danziger and the others had run out of rations days ago? To further add to her distress, Bess' sobering questions had continued to echo in Devon's ears from the moment she'd posed them.

_"Devon, have you ever seen anyone starve to death? Have you ever watched anyone eat dirt, trying to suck the moisture out of mud?"_

Bess had been right. As life-long station-dwellers, none of them truly had any idea what they were up against. And that frightened Devon more than she could ever imagine.

Exhausted and practically coasting on fumes, Devon was becoming more distraught by the moment and her thoughts were consumed by the possibility that she'd never see John alive again. Grasping at any and all straws- and really not thinking all that clearly at this juncture- Devon was struck by a new idea.

She recalled the events of just a few weeks before when the Ancient Terrian spirit had chosen Danziger as its new host. Though all evidence had pointed to Alonzo as being the infected party, Devon had had her suspicions. Those niggling doubts had ended up manifesting itself as a dream in which she'd been able to finally admit and accept her various concerns, as well as come up with a tentative scenario to save Danziger's life. And with the exception of nearly shooting John with a Mag-pro, her plan to bring him to the underground cave had worked like a charm.

In that case, something as seemingly inconsequential as a dream had been the key to helping her take a step back and see the precarious circumstances in a whole new light.

More recently, she'd experienced a series of dreams involving an adult Uly. It had all seemed so incredibly real at the time that she'd actually followed instructions imparted to her and had stolen her son's Bio-ID from Julia's med-files. She'd then directed Uly to place the pilfered material at a designated location nearby.

Looking back now, the behavior she'd exhibited was rather odd and out of character for her, especially when she'd put her son in a potentially dangerous situation. But no harm had come to Uly or to anyone else, and she hadn't had another one of those dreams in weeks. In fact, unlike the prior dreams where she'd encountered the apparition of John which she could remember with amazing clarity, the particulars of the latter set of dreams were already beginning to slowly fade into the background.

All that mattered to Devon was that, for whatever reason, she'd apparently needed to complete that unusual errand. She was steadfast in her belief that it had been the right choice to make and it was yet another example where her dreams had opened a door to previously unexplored possibilities. And she was grateful for the opportunity.

To that end, Devon's current idea seemed obvious: The best way to help Danziger and the others was to have another dream.

Of course, because she was having difficulty sleeping, this was much easier said than done. However, Devon quickly deduced that, what couldn't occur naturally, could be brought about artificially courtesy of a sedaderm, just as she'd done to facilitate the dream with the adult version of Uly.

Devon hurried down the corridor as fast as her slightly shaky legs would carry her to Julia's designated quarters in the far corner of the BioDome. She went straight to the doctor's work station and hastily shoved aside whatever medical supplies she deemed unusable in order to give her a better view of a tray filled with brightly colored capsules. She intensely studied the various medications until her eyes fell upon the one that would serve her needs. She grabbed the nearby hypogun and slid the sleep aid into place.

She barely made it the final few feet to Julia's cot before pressing the apparatus to her neck and releasing the dose into her system, nor did she note the hiss of the hypogun or feel her head roughly land on the physician's pillow as she collapsed in a heap. Instead, all of her senses were focused solely on figuring out a way to bring Danziger and the others back home safely. She had to see John again, even if it was only a simulated version of him.

Very little time seemed to pass before Devon's eyes snapped open and she shot to her feet directly next to her cot. She understood that she was still asleep but immediately recognized that there were several monumental differences between her prior dreams and the current one. Although it was hard for her to define how or why, everything seemed to be slightly off-kilter. It was if the dream somehow lacked basic stability.

She rushed outside to further confirm her suspicion that many of the surrounding colors appeared muted and were slightly out of focus. And though she'd never bothered to pay attention to the presence of any background noise before, now that there was a startling lack of it, it was certainly noticeable now. Moreover, the sounds that she created on her own were dull with little to no reverberation.

Instinct took over and she began to run toward Danziger's tent at the opposite end of the field. However, she skidded to a stop at about the half-way point when she observed that the tent's crease was fully pulled back to reveal that it was vacant. Not only was the mechanic not inside, there was no longer even a bed.

Devon's gaze dropped to her feet and noted that the formerly healthy grass had been replaced with hardened, cracked earth. Moreover, the lush clusters of bushes which had peppered the landscape were now little more than piles of dried kindling.

_This place could certainly use a good rain_, was one of the first things that came to Devon's mind before she reminded herself that none of this was real. She also decided that she did not like this dream at all.

She widened her search, squinting into the blinding sun as she scoured the surrounding landscape for any signs of life. When her eyes yielded no positive results, she tried a different approach.

"Danziger!"

Recognizing that her voice lacked the impact that it normally had, she increased her volume to its limits.

"Answer me, John! Say something! Where are you?"

Devon's eyes darted back and forth as she continued to yell for him, her worry amplifying with every repetition of his name.

"I know you're here! You have to be!"

Her tone became strained with panic. "Please... please be here."

Devon took a few much needed breaths to calm herself and mentally regroup. She had just begun to admonish her subconscious for failing to abide by her wishes and produce the dream version of the mechanic when a flash of movement in the sun-scorched field caught her gaze.

The image was muted in color and quickly vanished, but it was more than enough to set Devon in motion and she sprinted the fifty or so yards away from both tents to the source. After a few moments of furious searching, she was rewarded with Danziger's ghostlike form fading into view almost directly next to her. The mechanic was seated on the hard earth with his head and shoulders slumped forward and his long legs pulled tightly against his chest. His visage was nearly transparent and he seemed to be barely lucid. And though Devon had difficulty deciphering some of John's features, there was no missing the extraordinary sadness reflected in his eyes.

"I'm not gonna make it outta this one," he said, his gaze looking straight ahead into space, his voice and delivery hollow. "You're not gonna find me in time."

Devon crouched down next to him and reached out to touch his translucent profile, but felt only air where the image of his shoulder was.

"Don't say that. Yale and Walman are on their way," she insisted, determined to put forth as optimistic a facade as she could, despite her true emotions.

"We'll be dead by then," Danziger replied flatly.

Another surge of fear gripped Devon as the the mechanic's vision vanished for a few agonizing seconds before finally rematerializing.

"God, I'm so hungry," he murmured, causing Devon to briefly turn away, overwhelmed by his obvious desperation.

She absolutely hated that her psyche had elected to translate her anguish regarding John's likely loss, as well as his probable current circumstances, into her dream. This was most certainly not the way that she'd wanted to envision him.

She attempted to take yet another mental step backward to steady herself and to compose her thoughts. After all, besides the prospect of seeing Danziger again, there was another purpose for having this dream. In the deepest recesses of her mind, there might be an as yet untapped idea that could be utilized to bring Danziger and the others back safely. As such, Devon did her best to ignore her pain at imagining him in such a mentally and physically depleted state, and she forced herself to get down to the business at hand.

"Tell me what I can do for you, John. Tell me how I can help," she implored to his washed out vision.

For the first time, Danziger met her eyes. "Take care of True. Raise her right," he relayed gloomily. "And don't let her forget her Dad."

This was obviously not the answer that Devon had expected. "John, please don't lose hope," she pleaded. "Tell me how to save you. There must be something that I can do. There just _has_ to be."

Danziger diverted his gaze elsewhere. "It's too late," he sighed, weakly shaking his head as his body began to gradually fade away into nothingness. "I'd give anything to see True again. I wish that I could've told her that I love her one more time."

"No, wait!" Devon called out, instinctually diving toward him in a futile effort to keep him there. Instead, she propelled herself straight through his vanishing form and tumbled to the ground.

Devon rebounded immediately, rocketing back to her feet and panning the barren landscape for John's reappearance. Unable to locate him, she started shouting at the top of her lungs in the hope that he could somehow hear her.

"Don't go! It's not too late!"

She became more emotional with each syllable. "You can't leave True! You can't leave me! Don't you dare give up, John! You do whatever it takes to stay alive, do you hear me? Dammit, come back! Don't leave! Tell me what to do!"

Suddenly a distant, though familiar, voice pierced the stagnant air.

"Devon, you have to wake up."

The leader instantly recognized what was happening and she did her best to ignore the suggestion. She wanted to hold onto the dream for as long as she possibly could in order to continue her frantic search for the mechanic.

"Danziger! Please! Tell me how to help you!" she yelled.

Barely a moment passed before the compassionate voice repeated, "You're having a nightmare, Devon. You need to wake up now."

Devon continued to resist and was still screaming Danziger's name when she felt her shoulders being gently shaken and her senses go dark.

She opened her eyes to view Bess who was holding vigil next to her on Julia's cot and trying to transition the leader back to reality as gingerly as possible.

Now that Bess finally had Devon's attention, she explained, "I stopped by to see if Walman and Yale had checked in, and I heard noises coming from Julia's quarters. You were talking in your sleep."

Devon nodded, still disoriented. Her breaths were short and ragged, and her lungs felt constricted as she wiped the moisture from her tear-streaked face. Through puffy eyes, she glanced at her chronometer which relayed that she'd been asleep for several hours.

"What did I say?" she asked hesitantly, noting that Bess' weary expression and swollen eyes closely mirrored her own.

The Earth-res fully understood that nothing positive could come from repeating Devon's desperate cries.

"I could only make out bits and pieces," she lied. "Something about helping John. Did you have a dream about him?"

"Yes, I mean, no, uh... maybe. I'm not sure," Devon replied, choosing to match Bess' fib with one of her own. "I don't really remember much about it."

Bess wasn't the least bit fooled and she gave Devon a sympathetic smile. "Why don't you stay here and get some more sleep," she suggested, not waiting for an answer as she began to tuck the covers around the leader's frame.

She added, "I'll be just down the hall monitoring the gear channels and I promise to let you know as soon as anyone checks in, okay?"

"Okay," Devon reluctantly agreed.

As Bess continued to adjust the blankets, the discarded hypogun fell to the floor with a clang. Bess picked up the apparatus as nonchalantly as possible and set it back on Julia's work station before making her way toward the exit. Once she reached the doorway of the enclosure, she paused in deep contemplation before slowly turning back to face Devon.

Her eyes glistened with tears and her voice faltered slightly as she imparted, "I know how hard this is, Devon, but we'll all get through it; whatever the outcome."

Unable to speak due to the lump forming in her throat, Devon could only nod her acknowledgment. The pair of beleaguered women traded one last sad smile before Bess reinitiated her short journey back into the main room of the BioDome.

Now alone with her thoughts, Devon attempted to look beyond her anguish and, instead, began to reflect on how different this latest dream had been from the others. Even more unsettling was that she had not been able to gain any insight whatsoever when it came to how to save Danziger. It was if her mind had played a cruel trick on her by forcing her to imagine a man whom she greatly cared for enduring what was likely the final few agonizing hours of his life. It was almost too much to bear.

She hypothesized that perhaps the use of the sleep aid had somehow factored into her negative experience. Maybe without a sedaderm, her subconscious could have provided her with useful knowledge that was buried in the deepest recesses of her psyche. At the very least, she might have been given a more encouraging perspective on the scouting party's current circumstances. But there was really no way of knowing whether an absence of medication in her system would have rendered a different outcome. And as much as Devon's dream had only served to increase her despair and anxiety, she didn't want to find out the hard way by falling back asleep.

As such, she passed the next few hours in Julia's darkened quarters staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. She spent the entirety of her time there attempting to convince herself that all was not lost and that Yale and Walman would reach her friends at any moment. And despite what the nightmare version of Danziger had bleakly predicted, it wasn't too late. It just couldn't be.

She also continually replayed True's steadfast assurances that her father would find a way to keep himself and the others alive long enough to be rescued. Somehow, John would be the key to bringing them all back safe and sound.

Devon prayed for a miracle.


	5. Chapter 5

Timeline: During the events of "All About Eve"

_"Options are in short supply."_

To Devon, Yale's grave pronouncement from a few hours before had certainly seemed to be a valid one.

Earlier when the leader had been alerted of Bennett's death, she'd been unable to leave her quarters due to her ever-increasing weakness. However, she'd been able to marshal enough of her strength to attend the subsequent impromptu meeting with Elizabeth, Danziger, Yale and Julia in order to discuss Elizabeth's proposed rescue strategy. Unfortunately, after its conclusion when John had escorted Devon back to her tent, another wave of dizziness had overtaken her, prompting the mechanic to carry her the final few feet and gingerly deposit her back into her bunk.

For one of the few times in her life, Devon didn't face off with those who had dared to issue her orders and, instead, she'd willingly complied with both Danziger and Julia's strict decrees of bed rest. There was nothing more that she could do but wait until the following morning when the scheduled interface between Yale and EVE would take place.

Despite the fact that Devon's health was deteriorating by the minute, her suffering was all but eclipsed by the hopelessness building within her. Eden Advance was dying inches at a time and she was filled with anxiety that in order to save her friends and family, they must risk- and quite possibly sacrifice- the life of a man who had been her confidante, father figure and the first true friend that she'd ever had.

As the hours ticked by, she attempted to focus on the knowledge that, if everything went according to plan, by that time tomorrow, the bio-stat implants would be successfully rebooted and the members of Eden Project would be well on their way to a full recovery.

Devon exuded a sad sigh. If only she could make such a claim.

She also mourned the loss of Eben, a woman who had become a good friend to her these past months and had certainly deserved to enjoy a long and healthy life in the sanctuary of New Pacifica. Instead, she'd ended up yet another victim of the Council's insatiable need to dominate- and ultimately desecrate- anything and everything that it touched, even a remote planet twenty-two light years away. It was all so terribly unjust.

Some of Devon's time was spent reminiscing about her own hugely successful, but emotionally unfulfilling past on the Stations. She didn't miss the almost incalculable fortune she'd amassed through inheritance and through her take-no-prisoners management style. The money and the power that accompanied it was worthless to her in comparison to the riches she'd gained on G889. This planet was where her life was truly given meaning and where her dreams of a better, healthier existence for her son and for others like him could finally come to fruition.

She fully understood that the Terrians' choice to heal Uly was only the beginning. With a natural environment and fresh air to breathe would come a fresh start for the rest of humanity as well. This was Mankind's perhaps final opportunity to show that it had learned from several century's worth of mistakes and could directly apply those expensive lessons to the settlement of G889. And in doing so, the bond forged with the Terrians- and with the very planet itself- would ensure that generations from now, The Syndrome would be completely eradicated; ending up as nothing more than a footnote in the historical annals of New Pacifica. Devon only wished that she would have been able to survive long enough to see and experience it all with her own eyes.

She tried to concentrate on the knowledge that all of Eden Advance's struggles will have been worth the hefty price that it paid. Eben Sinh. Commander O'Neill. Herself. When all was said and done, their deaths would have meaning.

Devon exhaled another wistful breath. Unfortunately, she was keenly aware that there would also be a hefty toll extracted from John Danziger. What Devon had started, would be up to Danziger to finish, and the success of Eden Project rested solely upon his already heavily burdened shoulders. She regretted having to force the mechanic into this position, but she knew that there was no one else whom she could trust with completing her life's work. And knew knew in her heart of hearts that John would not let her down.

Besides, just as Yale had dolefully relayed, options were in short supply.

As Devon lay alone in the darkness, she began to be haunted by thoughts of other tasks left unfinished and, more importantly, desires left unfulfilled. She wished that she'd had more time to garner the courage to tell Danziger how much he'd meant to her, beyond her appreciation for his strong work ethic and survival skills. Then again, at that moment, she couldn't really remember the last time she'd thanked him or had complimented him on a task well done. Those type of words didn't come easily to either of them unless they were addressing their own children. Usually, the two of them would just end up butting heads or some such nonsense. But hopefully, deep down, John knew that she was indeed grateful for his presence in her life. And yet again, she found herself wishing that she could interact as openly and honestly with the real Danziger as she had done in several of her dreams of him.

As Devon's eyes at last fell to a close, she wondered if John had ever dreamt of her, too.

* * *

John Danziger was at a complete loss. Struggling to occupy his time and desperately feeling the need to accomplish something, he tinkered with the Transrover's induction cell until the early morning hours. As he ensured that no one else would be able to manually alter and lock down the navigational coordinates to a specific location without first obtaining his specific voiceprint as a pass code, he tried to rid his mind of the futility of what he was doing. After all, it wasn't as if they were leaving this valley anytime soon. In fact, it was very possible that every single one of them would die there.

Eben was already gone and Bess, Baines, Magus, Devon and Alonzo weren't too far behind her. Yale could very likely be killed during the interface with Reilly slated to get underway in just a few hours, and John wasn't putting too much stock in their shaky game plan working out in their favor. Of course, he hoped that they indeed pulled it off... but he wasn't holding his breath. For all they knew, an already unstable EVE might disapprove of their tactics or have second thoughts, make the decision on its own to scrap the whole idea of human existence on G889 and then program a lethal surge into their implants to murder them all. As awful as that possibility sounded, Danziger figured that, if they were all going to die anyway, perhaps that was the best option. A quick, painful death was much better than a prolonged, painful one.

He hated watching helplessly as his friends suffered and slowly wasted away around him. Realizing that he was toward the end of the curve, he selfishly hoped that he passed away before True because he couldn't imagine living a single second of his life without her.

And there was no doubt in Danziger's mind that, out of all of the members of Eden Advance, he felt sorriest for Julia. Not only was modern medicine and her formidable skills as a physician rendered useless against this unseen and untreatable enemy, her genetic enhancements all but guaranteed that she would be the last person in the crew to succumb. And the mechanic wouldn't wish that miserable prospect on anyone.

Danziger leaned back against the driver's seat headrest as his thoughts wandered to Devon. Her health and her optimism seemed to be simultaneously deteriorating before his eyes. He'd been caught completely off-guard when she'd extracted promises from him to step into the role as Uly's guardian and as leader of Eden Advance if she didn't survive. He inwardly admitted that as much as Devon's overt confidence and almost fanatical idealism annoyed the shit out of him, watching her appear to throw in the towel was much, much worse.

For a fleeting moment, Danziger allowed himself to imagine what his life would have been like if Eden Advance had survived long enough to reach the west coast. True would have been allowed to grow up in a place without the hindrance of her birthright. She would have been considered an equal among her peers and would have been provided the opportunity to receive a real education. And with plenty of gumption and stubbornness coursing through her Danziger veins, there would have been no stopping her from achieving whatever heights she'd wanted to reach.

As for himself, in addition to his desire to be the best father that he could be, he'd hoped to spend his life at Devon's side, at least on a professional level. He understood that she would never have returned the feelings of love that he'd concealed from her, but he would have fully and tirelessly supported her dream to make New Pacifica a success; which included being the voice of reason whenever her lofty expectations had eclipsed reality... an occurrence which happened daily, if not hourly.

Of course, Danziger recognized that Eden Advance's short and long term fate had yet to be etched in stone. There was always the remote chance that Elizabeth's far-fetched solution would somehow be successful. Who knows? Maybe in a week or two, they'd be back on the road again and this whole agonizing debacle would end up as nothing more than yet another one of Humanity's countless footnotes in its quest to save itself.

And as John drifted off to a deep sleep in the cab of the Transrover, he wondered if perhaps one day he'd reconsider his choice to never reveal to Devon that he'd fallen in love with her; as he'd done so willingly in his dreams.

Anything was possible.

* * *

Devon slowly opened her eyes, immediately realizing that she was dreaming. Though her physical frailty remained, she received a healthy emotional boost when she observed Danziger sitting at her bedside. It didn't escape her notice that the mechanic wore the same look of concern and was sitting in almost the identical stance he'd had during their real-life conversation in which he'd promised to take care of Uly and the group. To Devon, it was extremely comforting and exactly what she'd needed. A small smile escaped her lips as she inwardly thanked her subconscious for placing Danziger in her dreams once more before she succumbed to her illness.

"John," she whispered as the mechanic tore yet another page from the prior day's discussion and began to gently weave his fingertips through her hair.

"How are ya' feeling?" he asked, his expression completely open for all to see.

"Sick," Devon answered truthfully. "I probably don't have much time left."

"You just need to hold on a little longer, okay? We'll all be as good as new in no time," he assured.

Devon reached out to clutch his free hand as tightly as her weakness would permit. "I'm just glad that you're here."

John placed his other hand over their joined ones. "And I always will be," he pledged.

Though Devon understood and appreciated why her psyche would choose to have Danziger attempt to cheer her up and provide her with a glimmer of hope for her future, her powers of deduction knew better.

"It's too late for us," she relayed in nearly a whisper.

Danziger shook his head. "Stop talkin' nonsense, Adair. You're gonna be crackin' that whip and ordering us back on the road to New Pacifica in no time."

As the words left his lips, Danziger blinked a few times in surprise. How in the hell did _he_ become the optimist in this pair?

"No," Devon clarified with a deep sadness. "It's too late for _us_. For you and me. I waited too long."

The regret began to pore out of her at increasing speed and emotion. "I made so many wrong choices where you're concerned. I took time for granted. I took _you_ for granted. I should have been less afraid. For once in my life, I should have listened to my heart, instead of my head. I should have told you that I loved you, no matter what the consequences might be."

She paused to catch her breath before choking out, "It's too late. Now I'll never know if you could have loved me, too."

As Danziger listened to Devon's woeful confession, he played along with the dream as it unfolded, never considering that any of her words were truth. He rationalized that this must be his subconscious' way of transferring his own desires onto someone else. After all, everything that Devon was saying could also have been directly applied to him. Plus, he was painfully aware that the real Devon didn't harbor any of those feelings for him, so this was a no-brainer as far as he was concerned.

"Look, if you got somethin' to get off your chest, you can say your peace after you're back on your feet."

The mechanic went on to proclaim, "In fact, I'll do you one better. The morning that we finally get outta this godforsaken valley, I'm gonna find you just before we leave and fill you in on a few things."

Danziger seemed surprised by his own sudden willingness to throw caution to the wind and risk his friendship and working relationship with Devon; not to mention expose himself to likely rejection, heartbreak, humiliation and even possible outrage.

And judging by Devon's expression, it was pretty clear that she wasn't buying it either.

"You're going to tell me that you're in love with me?" she asked, her tone conveying disbelief with a dash of amusement

Danziger shrugged while his gaze momentarily shot skyward.

"I dunno, maybe not in so many words," he contemplated, obviously working out the pros and cons of such a scenario in his mind as he spoke. "I guess I could test the waters a bit and see what happens. Maybe see if I can figure outta way to let you know that my feelings for you run deeper than wanting to strangle you senseless at any given moment."

A small chuckle escaped Devon's lips. Only John Danziger would somehow manage to include a feigned threat of violence in a confession of endearment. It amazed her that even the dream version of the mechanic was an enigma.

"I would like that," she beamed, briefly allowing herself to forget the current dangers facing John and the other members of Eden Advance, as well as her own impending death.

Danziger matched her mirth with his own off-centered grin. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she nodded, her eyes sparkling with affection.

"Okay then," he decreed as he proudly puffed out his chest, looking more than pleased with himself for his foresight. "Looks like we got ourselves a date."

A few seconds of silence passed between them as they individually digested what they believed to be their subconscious was trying to convey to them. But as reality began to seep its way into Devon's psyche, she attempted to keep those sobering thoughts at bay in favor of holding onto her fantasy as long as she possibly could.

"Will you stay with me a while?" she asked, her expression hopeful.

There was another pregnant pause as Danziger thought about his options before making a decision and suddenly lurching forward.

"Move over."

When Devon's eyes widened in confusion, he added, "Go on. Scoot."

After the briefest of hesitations, Devon willingly obliged and a fully-clothed Danziger stretched out alongside her in her simulated cot.

"And don't even think about hoggin' the covers," he mocked, eliciting another light chuckle from Devon.

Danziger repositioned the lone pillow and extended his arm underneath Devon while she settled her head comfortably against the crook of his shoulder, facing him. The pair intertwined their arms and legs, savoring the other's touch as John leaned down to lovingly kiss Devon's brow.

"You'll keep your promises to me, won't you John?" she murmured against his chest.

There was no mistaking the heavy sigh emanating from Danziger before he grumbled, "If I say yes, will you shut your mouth and close your eyes?"

"Yes."

"Then, yeah, I promise," he whispered, his lips grazing the top of her head and kissing her once again. "I won't let you down."

After receiving the reaffirmation that she so desperately needed to hear, Devon complied with John's wishes and closed her eyes. In contrast, Danziger remained in the dream state for a long while afterward, relishing Devon's presence as she firmly snuggled against him. He was very glad to have dreamed of her again, especially since it appeared that Eden Advance's days were numbered.

He speculated that this was some sort of a wake-up call of sorts, courtesy of his innermost wishes and desires. Of course, the idea of telling the real Devon that he had feelings for her was preposterous at best. But if Elizabeth Anson was indeed able to pull a rabbit out of a hat and repair the bio-stat chips, maybe it wouldn't be so bad for him to have a little something to hold onto or to aspire to; even if, deep down, he knew that he could never win or even be worthy of Devon's heart.

At that moment John decided that, if the group survived the implant malfunction, at the very least he would consider acting on his current impulse to find Devon just before they once again embarked for New Pacifica. Obviously, he wouldn't be able to admit to anything that he'd be culpable for, but perhaps he could drop a hint or two just to see how Devon responds. After all, he wouldn't have anything to lose, as long as he was extremely careful with his words.

Danziger shut his own eyes and nestled closer to Devon. As the blackness of a deep sleep started to surround him, his thoughts shifted back to the many unresolved battles that he and the other members of Eden Advance were currently engaged in. They were literally fighting for their lives and after all that they'd been through these past five months on G889, he couldn't help but wonder if their luck had finally run its course.

The only thing that John was certain of was that, whatever the outcome was after they uploaded those codes into EVE, tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.


	6. Chapter 6

Timeline: Six days after "All About Eve"

It had been just shy of a week since Eden Advance had been forced to place Devon in a state of hibernation in order to stave off the shutting down of her vital organs. No sooner had Uly slipped his child-sized Terrian staff into the door handle of his mother's cold sleep crypt when the crew had gotten down to the business of unpacking their few belonging and reestablishing their campsite at the base of the hill in which Franklin Bennett's Mercury class starship was embedded.

And now it seemed that the mission to establish a thriving colony at New Pacifica had ground to a physical and metaphorical standstill. The group's collective near death experience due to the bio-probe malfunctions had already shaken them to their core, and they were clearly unprepared for this latest turn of events. As such, the individual members of Eden Project were handling the loss of their leader in a wide range of ways.

Uly was practically inconsolable, and Bess and True seemed to make it their life's goal to steer the boy's attention toward games or schoolwork or anything else the pair could come up with that was unrelated to his mother's grave condition. Morgan emotionally separated himself from the others by thrusting his VR fixation into overdrive, escaping to his jazz-filled sanctuary for hours at a time. Yale was practically in mourning over what was perhaps the permanent loss of his former pupil and best friend. Julia was rarely seen and had chosen to barricade herself in the Med-tent as she searched for the source of Devon's illness.

Many of the Ops crew focused their energies on fiddling with the newest- though in many instances antique and obsolete- machinery which had been 'permanently borrowed' from several storage crates discovered in the bowels of Bennett's ship. Others like Denner and Cameron spent the long days performing menial, needless tasks such as taking extra inventories or reorganizing the navigational equipment in a futile effort to stay busy.

As for John Danziger, he fell into his new role as leader of Eden Advance as smoothly as could be expected under the circumstances. Though he was actively involved in every decision made in camp, he remained aloof and distant when it came to his interactions with the crew. He was under an almost incalculable amount of stress and his friends treaded lightly in his presence, trying their best not to tax him any more than absolutely necessary.

But as time marched forward and Eden Advance stayed in one place, there was an elephant in the room which could only be ignored for so long. Moreover, John was aware that it was up to him to address it and he'd elected to do so just hours earlier when everyone had gathered around the evening campfire. After Julia had provided the latest update on Devon's unchanging status, sadly relaying that with the limited information and medical equipment available to her, there was nothing more that she could think to do, Danziger had solemnly made the announcement that it was time for the group to cut its losses and move on. His stony expression was belied by his strained tone and the pronounced furrows etched deep into his brow as he added that Eden Advance would be leaving at first light.

When Morgan asked if there would be a vote on the subject, the mechanic told them no, explaining that camp morale was already fractured enough without splintering it further through debate. Anguish permeated his eyes and voice as he furthered that, in truth, leaving Devon behind was never their or even his decision to make in the first place. This had been Devon's choice all along and she was counting on each and every one of them to continue her dream of having New Pacifica fully operational in time for the arrival of the colony ship. And he was going to see to it that they didn't let her down.

The mood remained subdued as the group fell in line with Danziger's assertion without any opposition and it wasn't long before everyone retreated to their quarters to privately contemplate the gravity of what they were going to do. Knowing that Julia was likely an emotional wreck due to her inability to pull Devon back from the brink of death, Alonzo sought to comfort her the best that he could. But when he suggested that she rest, Julia refused, insisting on utilizing every minute left to hunt for clues regarding the fallen leader's condition. As much as Alonzo worried about her, he appreciated and respected the idea that Julia had to try, even if all that was left for her to do at this point was to wildly grasp at straws.

He watched his lover from their shared cot in their personal quarters which also served as the Med-tent, remaining as quiet as a church mouse while she dutifully, desperately toiled away at her work station into the early hours of the morning. Her concentration was so great that she failed to hear the approaching footsteps or the subsequent light rapping of knuckles against the entrance's nylon tarp. She also barely looked up from her slides when Alonzo slipped out of the doorway to address their visitor.

"I saw the light on," Danziger said with concern as he gazed past Alonzo to view the physician as she intensely studied a grouping of blood samples. "She doin' all right?"

"She's just running last minute checks, I think," came Alonzo's hushed reply. "She wants to be sure she's tried everything possible."

The mechanic let out a slow breath. "Make sure she gets some sleep." His eyes briefly bounced to his shoes as he added, "And tell her we all know that she did her best. No one here blames her."

Alonzo nodded his acknowledgment before arching his head backward slightly. "You're not on guard duty tonight, are you?"

"Nah, it's Baines' first shift back. I know Julia cleared him for duty, but as bad off as he was a few days ago, I wanted to check on him one more time to make sure he was still feeling up to it."

It was impossible for Alonzo to miss Danziger's fatigued expression and posturing. "You need to get some sleep, too," he suggested.

"Yeah, I'm headin' off to bed right now," John answered, his legs already in motion, though he barely lifted his feet as he trudged back toward his own quarters. "'Night."

"See you in the morning," Alonzo called out to his retreating back.

He stepped back into his tent and let the canvas flap fall to a close behind him, doing his best not to disturb Julia as he crept back into bed. Unable to fall asleep, his mind began to focus on Danziger's heartbreaking situation. Because the pilot had puppeteered three different Dreamplane excursions over the past months for the two temperamental leaders, he's been privy to the depth of John's attachment to Devon. Alonzo's heart had been in the right place when he'd tricked the pair into relaying their true feelings to one another which had resulted in plenty of fireworks, confessions of allegiance and of love.

Alonzo had assumed that these Dreamplane declarations would somehow work their way into Devon and Danziger's waking lives. The couple's friendship had clearly strengthened over time and, although they still could fight like cats and dogs, their sparring had become much less mean-spirited and adversarial. It was even widely speculated by many in the group that, on some strange level, the leaders actually enjoyed the conflict to a degree.

Alonzo had only wanted the best for Devon and John and, while his intention had been to play the honorable role of an unseen matchmaker, upon further introspection over his actions, he'd opted to put a halt to the proceedings. After all, he'd had a front row seat to emotions that were most certainly not for his eyes and ears. And in all fairness, it felt wrong on many levels that he'd basically manipulated the pair into exposing their deepest desires to each other instead of allowing them to vocalize and act upon their feelings at their own pace.

Since then, he'd only summoned them to the Dreamscape once more in order to alert Devon that Danziger's body had been overtaken by the ancient Terrian spirit, as well as to provide her with instructions to bring him to the Elder's cave before it was too late. It was obvious that neither leader had ever figured out the truth and Alonzo had thought it best not to tell them, for their sake and for his own. In fact, he'd never confided his actions to anyone, including Julia.

But now things had changed considerably, and seeing Danziger in such a grief-stricken state was prompting Alonzo to reconsider his choice not to utilize the Dreamplane. Though he'd never personally dreamed during any of his countless cold sleep runs, he was considered to be the exception to the rule. Most people dreamed despite their bodies being cryogenically frozen and Alonzo even recalled Danziger's initial comment after awakening from his twenty-two year hibernation of experiencing a rather strange one. As such, there was no reason to think that

Devon would be any different. And Alonzo knew that he had to try.

Of course, transporting Danziger to the alternate reality wouldn't be a difficult task, but finding a way to reach Devon would be another matter entirely. However, if Alonzo was successful, there was a good chance that Devon could dispense some much-needed insight as to why she'd fallen ill as well as to how to bring her back to the land of the living. And if it turned out that she had no helpful information to impart, at least the pair would be afforded the opportunity to temporarily reconnect, perhaps providing them with some semblance of peace with the sobering decision to leave her behind.

Alonzo closed his eyes and focused his efforts on setting up the previously established parameters for the leaders' Dreamscape encounter. He hoped that he would be able to pull it off. For everyone's sake.

* * *

As much as Danziger had hoped to dream of Devon, he feared it at the same time; so much so that he tried to remain awake for as long as he could. Even though he knew that none of it was real, he just couldn't face her- or himself, for that matter- for basically hijacking the voting process and insisting on abandoning her. That he was simply following through on the promise Devon had extracted from him to keep the group moving forward did nothing to diminish his guilt and misery over the idea that he'd failed her. He wasn't sure how he was going to live with himself.

He continued to berate himself as the unforgiving night stretched onward. How in the world could he have been so oblivious to Devon's illness? It should have been blatantly obvious to him that she'd remained sick while he and the others returned to full health.

The image of Devon crumbling to the ground in agony outside of her quarters on that fateful morning played itself for the thousandth time in John's agonized mind. If he'd only gone to find her just a few minutes earlier, things might have ended very differently. He could have whisked her away to Julia in time; or at the very least, Devon could have communicated to him her symptoms and what- if any- actions could be taken in order to save her.

But instead he'd spent most of the morning packing up the camp's belongings while selfishly working out the details of his self-made vow to approach Devon about his feelings for her. Of course, he wouldn't have confessed anything embarrassing that he could be held accountable for later. Ironically, he'd planned to open the conversation by noting his relief that she was fully recovered and that his life wouldn't have been the same without her around to constantly piss him off. He would have then segued the topic to his appreciation of her trust in him to take over leadership of the group and to raise her son if she hadn't survived. After that, he would have carefully evaluated how receptive she was to his remarks and then would have played the rest of their exchange by ear... very carefully. He understood that the deck was stacked against him and there was no way in hell that he was going to endanger their working relationship by making a complete jack-ass out of himself.

But now it was too late.

As his physical and emotional fatigue overtook him, he tried to take comfort in the knowledge that, because Devon's cryogenic state precluded her from deteriorating any further, she was no longer suffering in pain or experiencing any worry or fear. At this point, Danziger was the only one who felt as though he was dying inside.

* * *

Alonzo was securely tucked in the shadows just outside of Danziger's tent when he finally heard a tired groan from inside the dwelling, signaling that the mechanic had arrived on the Dreamscape. There was a pregnant pause and Alonzo wondered if Danziger was weighing the pros and cons of pursuing the unknown possibilities of what he believed to be an ordinary dream. Once Danziger had decided not to let his apprehension get the best of him by either forcing himself into a deeper sleep or by staging a sit-in, he barreled over the threshold and out into the faux sunlight. And his commitment to the proceedings was obvious as he stared down Devon's tent at the opposite end of the field.

"Get your ass out here, Adair!" he demanded, looking and sounding like a drill sergeant, complete with his all but patented thousand yard glare.

Still obscured from Danziger's view, Alonzo was momentarily stunned by the mechanic's aggressive outburst and wondered if his posturing was an attempt to mask his anxiety. Or maybe it was simply a preemptive strike in anticipation of a verbal, and possibly physical, onslaught from Devon over his actions of late. Either way, he was certainly ready for a fight.

Alonzo tried to block out John's antics and focus his concentration on locating and bringing Devon's subconscious to the alternative reality; a task that was proving to be more difficult than first thought.

Meanwhile, John began to march toward the leader's simulated quarters, bellowing, "I know you're in there, and you and I are gonna hash all of this shit out right now!"

Alonzo was becoming increasingly panicked when he was still unable to locate Devon and summon her to the Dreamplane. And it was clear that Danziger was also realizing the potential for his dream to actually be a nightmare when he parted the tent's crease with a deliberate sweep of his arm to reveal an empty room.

He squinted into the semi-darkness. "Devon! Front and center!" he ordered, his commands and attitude seemingly tailor-made to provoke yet another knock-down, drag-out battle of wills.

As Danziger stepped inside to continue the search, Alonzo took the opportunity to edge closer to the dwelling, all the while desperately attempting to contact Devon to no avail. The pilot had absolutely no idea how to proceed. Because he'd become so adept at navigating the alternate dimension, he hadn't given enough serious consideration to the idea that Devon would be beyond his reach. Hindsight was twenty-twenty and now he was abundantly aware that he should have confirmed his ability to bring Devon to the Dreamplane first before sending for Danziger. This had been a terrible miscalculation and the woman's glaring absence could potentially upset an already emotionally raw Danziger even more than he already was.

The pilot feared that he was about to witness a train wreck of monumental proportions. And worse yet, he was the one who had set up the tracks and put the train in motion.

As he wrestled with several different ideas to minimize the damage, including everything from forcing Danziger from the Dreamscape, to making his presence known and providing a full confession of his well-intentioned transgressions, cracks began to surface in the mechanic's steel veneer after he'd concluded that Devon was not to be found.

John's fury and overall pacing slowed as he ventured inward. By the time he reached the center of the room, his once angry breaths now resembled shudders and he withered to his knees on the spot where Devon's bed should have been.

Devon's lack of presence failed to deter John from speaking his mind. His grief had a slightly acrimonious edge to it as he acknowledged, "This isn't what I signed up for and you damn well know it, Adair. I don't have a shankin' clue what I'm doin'."

Alonzo was cemented in place as he watched from a small, conveniently placed slit in the fabric as the awful truth continued to spill out of the mechanic.

"I'm not you. I can't be you."

There was an almost painfully long pause before he continued. "Already been way too much loss 'round here. And now you're gone, too," came the strained whisper. "No one here knows how to fix you and, as far as I can tell, the Diggers don't give a shit. So I guess that means you gotta get better on your own."

The mechanic let out another raspy breath. "Who knows? Maybe the rest'll do you some good."

Another few moments of contemplation passed before Danziger slowly lumbered to his feet. He barely lifted his legs as he took a few paces toward the door before suddenly halting, realizing that there was one more thing that he needed to get off of his chest.

His gaze dropped to his boots. "I'm gonna do everything that you asked of me," he reflected, his voice still a mixture of sorrow and bitterness. "But that sure as hell don't mean that I'm gonna like it."

As Danziger resumed his journey out of Devon's tent, Alonzo didn't have time to conceal his close proximity. However, luckily for the pilot it didn't make any difference because John's eyes never veered from straight ahead of him as he crossed the field and returned to his quarters. What had started with a roar had practically ended with a whimper, and there was no missing the defeated stance of the mechanic's dropped shoulders or that his head was held lower than usual.

Without another word, Danziger climbed back into his own cot, facing the opposite wall of the enclosure and pulled the covers over top of him.

As the dream came to a close, Alonzo was again racked with guilt over what he'd done and he reconsidered outing himself regarding his role in the deception. However, upon further thought, he concluded that it would be best for them both if the current dream was ended as quickly as possible without him openly accepting responsibility for his actions and letting John know that he'd yet again overheard privileged information regarding his personal life. Alonzo also made a promise to himself that, no matter how much he'd wanted to help Devon and Danziger in the future, he would stick to his former pledge to never ever trick them onto the Dreamplane again. Of course, the whole point of his promise would be moot if Eden Project was unable to locate a cure for whatever had caused Devon's sickness.

But regardless of that fact, Alonzo was certain that he had learned his lesson. The pilot only wished that causing John more mental suffering hadn't been a painful byproduct of his schooling. But Alonzo vowed to make it up to the mechanic by actively supporting his efforts at leading the group and doing whatever he could to lighten his already overwhelming workload.

And most importantly, Alonzo decided then and there that he was going to make it his life's mission to hound the Terrians until they understood or cared enough to take the necessary steps to bring Devon back to them in good health. Even though he'd struck out so far in his few meetings with the creatures, it stood to reason that they were more than equipped to help her, just as they'd done for Uly. And he wasn't going to give up until they relented.

This was far from over.


	7. Chapter 7

John didn't care how or why the Terrians had done it. The only thing that mattered was that Devon was finally coming home to them. Of course, he'd only believe that such a miracle was possible when he actually saw the woman with his own eyes.

The past few weeks had been a whirlwind of emotion for the crew. Though they had traveled for five days and had significantly surpassed their daily twenty click quota, most felt that very little ground had been gained. As far as they were concerned, their physical proximity meant nothing as long as their hearts and minds had remained miles behind them, frozen along with Devon in the belly of Franklin Bennett's ship.

Considering the gut-wrenching circumstances that lead up to it, Danziger had somehow managed a fluid transition into his role as the sole leader of Eden Advance. It had greatly helped that, despite the group's anguish, he had their full support, and most stepped up to offer their assistance in any way that they could. Not only did they want to alleviate as much of weary mechanic's burden as possible, they wanted to afford him plenty of opportunities to spend much-needed time with the children.

He returned his friends' many favors by listening to their suggestions and by ensuring that they were kept in the loop regarding the overall decisions made for the group. Amazingly, Danziger had even appeared to have entered into an unspoken truce with Morgan. At the very least, the bureaucrat had assessed the situation well enough to know to hold his tongue regarding any reservations that he might have about Danziger's leadership abilities. At least for the time being.

Strangely enough, the one crew-member that Danziger had rarely seen or spoken to since Eden Advance had reinitiated the trek to New Pacifica was Alonzo Solace. It wasn't as if the two were actively avoiding one another. In fact, the pilot was busier than ever. From the morning they'd left the valley, he'd become all but consumed with his efforts to persuade the Terrians to agree to heal Devon. As such, he'd been spending most of his waking and sleeping hours on the Dreamscape doing everything from desperately pleading for their help, to attempting to garner their collective sympathy along with the basic understanding of their plight, to schooling the creatures in a child-like fashion about the fundamentals of human emotion and the attachment that one person could feel for another.

It was a difficult, exhausting process, but on the fifth day, Alonzo's hard fight had yielded a successful outcome. Although the Terrians were never able to fully grasp the importance of how the loss of one individual could so adversely affect the physical and emotional behavior of a group collective, their curiosity was piqued just enough by Alonzo's explanation that they were very grudgingly inclined to view the outcome of such an endeavor. Of course, Alonzo didn't care how or why the beings finally agreed to come to their aid, as long as they followed through with their intentions.

With Eden Advance's blessing, Alonzo and Julia had immediately commandeered the Dunerail packed with medical equipment and returned to Bennett's ship. Though they'd had a long journey ahead of them, they were able to cover ground quickly due to the speed of the vehicle, the even terrain, the familiarity of the route, and the fact that they could switch drivers whenever warranted. In fact, it was estimated that if they'd traveled from sun-up to sun-down without stopping, they would reach their destination in just three days.

In the meantime, Danziger and the remaining crew-members were able to do little else but set up camp and wait for hopefully good news. Although everyone was experiencing a certain degree of excitement and relief, their optimism was cautious at best. A general distrust of the Terrians still permeated the minds of many in the group which, for the most part, stemmed from their overall lack of understanding of the creatures' motives and behavior. Despite their lofty claims, the crew couldn't help but question whether the Terrians actually possessed the ability to heal Devon. And there was certainly no guarantee that the beings wouldn't change their mind and leave Devon exactly the way they found her. Or worse.

Meanwhile, Julia and Alonzo were well beyond gear range, and updates on the status of the operation were out of the question. As such, there was no way for Eden Advance to know that the pair was so fully committed to the rescue mission that they had opted to drive with almost no breaks through the night, thereby trimming a full day off of their trip. The stationary crew also wasn't privy to the knowledge that Devon's healing by the Terrians had gone off without a hitch. In fact, it was even better than expected. Devon was not only fully cognizant of her surroundings after only a few hours of rest, she was strong enough to issue the order to leave Bennett's ship at first light. And, of course, Julia and Alonzo had been more than willing to comply.

The trio had mirrored their now well-established path back to camp, again traveling throughout the day and night with minimal stops to recharge the Dunerail. As they reentered gear range, they were at least two full days ahead of what had been deemed the shortest projection of their schedule. No one in Eden Advance could possibly have expected their impending arrival within just a few hours time. Though it was difficult not to spoil the surprise, they somehow managed to refrain from contact, rationalizing that seeing Devon in the flesh instead of a small vid screen would end up having a much greater impact.

The sun was just beginning to appear over the distant mountain peaks behind them as Julia, Alonzo and Devon crested a small hill and the campsite came into full view. As they closed in on the perimeter, a single silhouette which had been hovering around the campfire immediately stirred and began to advance toward them with his Mag-pro in tow. However, it only took a second for the appointed sentry to recognize the Dunerail and its three occupants. And there was no missing the excitement in Walman's voice.

"Holy shit! They're back!" he hollered as he tossed the weapon aside and ran toward the approaching vehicle. "Danziger! Everybody! Get out here! Somebody wake up Uly!"

Most of the crew had no idea what was going on as they were jostled from a deep sleep. Confusion and uncertainty reigned supreme as they hurriedly threw on their coats and shoved their feet into their boots. They simultaneously began to spill from their tents, realizing that Walman would not be yelling at the top of his lungs unless he was in distress or, at the very least, something serious had happened. Danziger, who had already been awake for several hours, came barreling from the opposite end of camp where the ATV and Transrover were situated, his gun drawn.

The mechanic skidded to a stop as his eyes fell upon Devon's beaming face, and the pistol, along with his jaw, dropped to the ground not too far away from Walman's abandoned Mag-pro. Too shocked to move or speak, he could only watch as the crowd reacted with cries of joy and proceeded to jubilantly surround the now halted vehicle. Uly's screams of delight eclipsed all other sounds as he ran to his Mom full speed, jumping into the front seat and embracing her. Many tears were shed and they tightly held one another while Devon assured him that the Terrians' cure was a resounding success and she'd indeed been returned to full health.

The leader remained only slightly weakened from her ordeal, but was still closely monitored by Julia as she exited the Dunerail and was warmly ushered back into the fold of Eden Advance. Uly was still all but attached to her hip as she made her way down the hastily thrown together welcome wagon, exchanging hugs and enthusiastic greetings with everyone. However, as she reached the end of the line of well-wishers, she realized that one person was conspicuously absent. She peered just beyond the throng of people to view Danziger who hadn't seemed to budge a single inch since his first eye contact with her.

It was difficult for Devon to decipher the mechanic's expression or body language, but it was clear that he either couldn't or wouldn't move. As such, Devon gently extricated herself from her son and took the initiative to go to him.

"Hey there, Danziger," she beckoned, stopping just in front him.

There was a noticeable gulp before John softly muttered, "Hey there, Adair. Welcome home."

He had barely gotten out the words when Devon eliminated the distance between them and pulled him into a hug, her arms weaving around his torso under his Ops jacket. Initially, John's posturing was rigid and he didn't appear to be breathing. There was also a fair amount of shaking, but Devon realized that she was just as much of a contributing factor as he was, if not more so.

Ever so slowly, Danziger returned her gesture by wrapping his arms around her, gradually easing her closer.

She noted the racing of his heartbeat as she set her forehead against his chest, relaying, "Julia and Alonzo have been doing nothing but singing your praises almost the entire trip back. They tell me that you did an amazing job while I was gone."

She felt the shrug of Danziger's shoulders. "Didn't really have much of a chance to muck anything up."

Devon could only shake her head as he yet again downplayed his importance. It was imperative to her that Danziger knew how much he was appreciated, and she arched her head backward to meet his eyes.

"Thank you for keeping your promises to me," she whispered, her expression infused with graciousness and warmth.

However, the leader's smile immediately faded and her stomach clenched into a thick knot as she witnessed a flash of deep pain flicker across John's face. Though he quickly regained control of his features, when he attempted to reply, no words would come forth and the best he could muster was to nod his acknowledgment.

Now Devon had lost her ability to speak and tears were beginning to well in her eyes as she drew Danziger back into an embrace. Slowly but surely, she felt the mechanic exhale a full breath and relax against her before gingerly resting his chin on the top of her head.

Even though there was an entire crowd of onlookers situated just a few feet away, for a few fleeting moments, Devon and John felt as though they were the only two people on the entire planet.

Devon held onto him much longer than she knew that she should have as she expressed in a voice strained with emotion, "It's good to be back."

* * *

Once Eden Advance's elation had subsided, Devon was anxious to get down to business. It was incredibly important to her for them to immediately resume their lives as they'd been before her collapse which meant packing up and getting back on the road to New Pacifica that very morning.

The leader seemed comfortable with leaving Danziger in charge for a bit longer to enable her to comply with Julia's strict orders of rest, and she spent the day off of her feet riding in the comfort of the Transrover. Additionally, Julia and Alonzo spent most of their daylight hours finally permitting themselves the opportunity to catch up on their sleep after pushing themselves to their physical and emotional limit for the past week. The rest of the crew was happy to either chauffeur the dozing trio or to walk alongside the caravan.

As the sun's rays were gradually replaced by the more muted beams of the planet's dual moons, Danziger called for a full-stop and supervised the construction of their temporary campsite, including the assembly of tents for the still-relaxing crew-members. Eden Advance's gleeful mood continued throughout the evening meal and the subsequent gathering around the campfire. By that point, Julia, Alonzo and Devon were recharged enough to join the crew, though this time it was Danziger who was a no-show. Instead, the mechanic had chosen to spend his time running a full diagnostic on the Dunerail's engine, ensuring that it wasn't teetering on full collapse after being forced to perform well beyond its expected breaking point.

Though Devon wasn't sure if John's reason for staying away was valid or not, she didn't want to tempt fate and ruin their terrific day by pushing him to interact with her and the others if he wasn't feeling up to it. As the night drew to a close, she successfully fought the overwhelming urge to see him and, instead, returned to her quarters alone.

Once she'd checked on an already slumbering Uly, she climbed into her bed, her mind in overdrive as she recalled the events just before she'd been placed into cold sleep. Of course, Devon had been fully aware that her health would continue to deteriorate even after the threat of the implant failures had been neutralized. However, although her eventual demise was inevitable, it had been shocking nonetheless when she'd collapsed outside of her tent on the morning that Eden Advance was scheduled to leave. In fact, she'd been suddenly overcome with panic.

She'd struggled to tell Uly good-bye before she'd lost the ability to speak or move. And by the time the desperate decision to place her in cryo-sleep had taken place, she could only decipher little more than muted, muffled tones. She was horrified at how fast she was slipping away, as well as how truly helpless she'd become. After all, there was so much more that she still had to do. There were so many things that she had yet to say. Most importantly, she'd made a promise to over a thousand people to provide them with a functioning colony in just over two year's time. Everyone was depending upon her and it was painfully clear to her at that moment that she'd failed every single one of them.

But then something miraculous took place.

As she was in the process of being placed into the vertical sleep capsule, her eyes focused in on John's somber face and an almost overwhelming feeling of calm proceeded to sweep over her. In those presumably final seconds of her life, she'd reminded herself that, though she would not be able to see her mission through to its conclusion, John would tirelessly labor to ensure that what she'd begun, he would finish.

For the very first time, Devon had contemplated that her role in the success of The Eden Project and in humanity's settlement on G889 wasn't necessarily to be their leader. Perhaps her true position was to have served as the architect and the facilitator of the overall expedition, and her life's work was making the necessary arrangements that placed the right people in the right place at the right time. And if she couldn't be there, there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that the right person to fill her shoes was John Danziger.

As she'd closed her eyes and accepted her fate, she'd briefly worried that Danziger would bear too much of the burden by himself without delegating some of his responsibilities to others in the group. She'd learned better than anyone after working with the mechanic these past months that, although their management styles often clashed, it was good to have a second opinion and someone to assist in keeping things running as smoothly as possible. Devon rationalized that Julia would likely be the best candidate to work alongside of, and she'd sincerely hoped that the doctor wasn't beating herself up too badly for failing to save her.

As the door to the crypt had hissed to a close and Devon had sensed a staff or a marker of some sort being slipped into the door's handle, she'd briefly wondered if she would still possess the ability to dream while in a state of deep hibernation. But she'd immediately concluded that such experiences weren't necessary. As her mind had drifted into nothingness, she was completely at peace with where she was, as well as with the knowledge that Eden Advance and the colonization of G889 would be a resounding success. The journey would continue on without her and everything would be okay.

But now Devon had been healed and her plans had changed yet again.

Life could return to the way it had been before her collapse. But did she really want it to? Obviously, she'd retake her spot as leader of Eden Project and Danziger would be right there at her side as second in command, at least until the Jamestown arrived. But now she was considering making some profound changes in her life, particularly where John was concerned.

Though their reunion had been fraught with happiness, instinct had yet again kicked in prompting Devon to forcibly hold at bay the true depth of emotion that she'd felt where the mechanic was concerned. And much to her chagrin, she'd barely seen or spoken with Danziger since her homecoming that morning. She'd wished that she'd been able to spend more time with him and hoped to rectify the situation as soon as she possibly could.

In fact, as Devon drifted off into a peaceful sleep, she began to consider the idea that maybe it was time for her to throw caution to the wind and finally permit herself to follow her dreams.

* * *

A determined smile stretched across Devon's face the moment she opened her eyes in her virtual cot. With a plan of action in mind and much too excited to worry about needless formalities such as her shoes, she tore out of the tent in her bare feet and sprinted across the landscape as fast as her legs would carry her.

"John!" she called out with every few steps that she took.

She'd crossed about two-thirds of the grassy field when Danziger appeared in the doorway of his quarters. The sight of him caused her toes to dig into the soft earth as she skidded to a stop.

Devon's eyes beamed with delight and her voice transformed into little more than a whisper. "John."

With nothing to hold them back, it was as though a starter pistol had been fired as the two simultaneously sprinted the remaining distance into one another's arms, tightly embracing.

"I love you. I love you so much," she repeated breathlessly, her mouth buried against his neck, just under his ear.

Danziger strengthened his grip around her, practically crushing her body against his as he echoed her words of affection. However, even through a passion-fueled haze, Devon couldn't miss or ignore that John's tone was laced with anguish, reminding her of the pain he'd briefly exhibited at her homecoming.

Any semblance of rational thought lagged several steps behind their need for physical contact. The mechanic's arms scaled Devon's slender back and his hands dug into her hair, guiding her head as he began a trail of kisses from the tip of her brow down her cheek and ending at her lips. Both let out strained gasps as their mouths met and they immediately deepened the sentiment.

Now that their previously quelled desires were permitted complete liberation, their movements became progressively intense, ambitious and uncontrolled. Several articles of clothing had already been yanked loose or removed entirely by the time John had guided an equally anxious Devon back into his tent.

The couple nearly buckled Danziger's cot as they crashed onto the mattress and, this time, there wasn't a single reason that Devon could think of to keep her from acting upon her impulses. So she stopped thinking entirely and just allowed herself to enjoy her fantasy to its fullest potential.

She'd never slept so well.


	8. Chapter 8

Life on G889 was getting curiouser and curiouser.

In the three weeks since Devon had resumed leadership of Eden Advance, thankfully things seemed to have settled down. However, not everything had returned to normal. In fact, almost every crew-member had taken notice that, since Devon's healing, both she and Danziger had begun acting more than a little odd. On the surface, the two of them seemed to be perfectly fine, but when one examined them more closely, there were most definitely several changes to their personalities, as well as to their overall behavior of late.

Their once moody and antagonistic-prone disposition had calmed. Devon smiled more often and, though the same couldn't be said of Danziger, he was most assuredly less surly. Additionally, True was absolutely thrilled when her father had finally caved in to her daily requests to not to push himself so hard. He'd begun to go to bed earlier and had stopped scheduling himself to work the bulk of the overnight guard shifts. Devon was also sleeping more which no doubt contributed to a quicker return to full health and an improved attitude.

But there was no debate among the group regarding the most glaring clue that something was indeed amiss: Devon and Danziger had stopped fighting.

The leaders would speak often enough, but they rarely spent any time alone together and almost all of their conversations were held in view and earshot of at least one other Edenite. Bess had even mentioned that, at times, the pair had almost seemed awkward in one another's presence.

And it didn't end there. Devon and John didn't appear to seek out each other's company any more and they hadn't embarked on a single scout together since her recovery. However, it was noted by many that, when the duo did converse, they now almost always referred to each other by their first names.

The situation was incredibly perplexing to Alonzo. He knew how deeply Devon and John cared for one another and he'd wrongfully assumed that when Devon had retaken her place in the group, a relationship with the mechanic would evolve organically. But it seemed that the opposite was taking place. The couple's budding courtship wasn't just stuck in a holding pattern; it was regressing in several different ways and he had no idea as to why.

What Alonzo _was_ certain of was that he continued to harbor plenty of guilt due to Devon and Danziger's Dreamplane excursions - particularly the final one in which he'd needlessly exposed John to further emotional distress- and persuading the Terrians to heal Devon hadn't diminished all of it. The pilot was determined to make further amends by helping the couple realize how perfect they were for each other. Furthermore, he'd hoped to accomplish the task without exposing his deception unless it was absolutely necessary.

After volleying several ideas back and forth for a few days, Alonzo finally decided that the direct approach would be the best for everyone involved. He simply needed to sit one of them down and explain in a rational, straightforward manner what was blatantly obvious to everyone else in Eden Advance. The pilot quickly concluded that, between the two leaders, Devon would be better suited to hear his words of wisdom, mostly because he was less afraid of her reacting with physical violence, though only slightly less so.

Although the evening was drawing to a close, Alonzo didn't want to waste anymore time and had hoped to illuminate Devon on his already proven hypothesis as soon as possible. He performed a quick visual sweep of the campsite looking for the leader, but turned up nothing. After speaking with Mazatl who was on sentry duty, he learned that Devon- and Danziger for that matter- had already turned in for the night.

Undaunted, Alonzo returned to his own quarters, determined to approach Devon at the first available opportunity. He was eternally gratified that he was going to be able to offset his prior lapse of good judgment by playing a small, but integral role in seeing Devon and Danziger's desired romance finally come to fruition.

There was little doubt in Alonzo's mind that positive changes were on the horizon for everyone.

* * *

It wasn't long after falling asleep before Alonzo's consciousness picked up the strange, yet familiar sensation of being pulled onto the Dreamplane. A series of overlapping trills beckoned to him as he opened his eyes to the alternate reality, finding himself with his back against the wall of a small alcove located in the heart of one of the many nondescript caves.

A pair of Terrians had obviously been awaiting his arrival and they got right down to business.

_"We require an explanation as to why two members of your collective continue to venture to our realm during their dormant hours."_

Still half-asleep, Alonzo pitched his head back. "I'm not sure what you mean," he shrugged.

_"They return each hibernation cycle. But your brethren do not call to us, nor do they seek counsel or knowledge regarding our Mother."_

The pilot had no idea who or what they were referring to. He scratched his head in bewilderment for a few additional seconds before comprehension finally dawned on him. And he practically smacked himself in the forehead when he realized his gaffe.

"I'm sorry. This is all just a big misunderstanding," he declared. "I'd brought the two leaders of our tribe here on a few occasions with the purpose of teaching them a lesson about themselves. It had nothing to do with you or your Mother. And if we caused any problems at all, I apologize and I promise that it won't happen again."

As Alonzo finished speaking, for the first time, he considered the possibility that not only had he gone too far with Devon and Danziger by tricking them on the Dreamplane, he'd crossed a line by taking advantage of the Terrians by using their home turf for his own purposes without their permission. This was most definitely a new cause for concern and he sincerely hoped that his actions hadn't resulted in damaging Eden Advance's already fragile relationship with the creatures.

This was also the point when Alonzo realized that both Terrians were carrying lightning staffs. He certainly hoped that they didn't plan on using them.

Meanwhile, the Terrian duo was clearly not satisfied by Alonzo's answer and, judging by the increasingly annoyed tone of the trills, they seemed to be losing their patience.

_"We are aware of your prior visits here. Our query refers to the current status of your tribe members. We wish to gain an understanding as to why they choose to remain among our collective, yet seek no audience with us."_

Now Alonzo was really confused. As he processed their words, the realization of what they were saying brought on surprise and more than a hint of panic.

"Are you saying that Devon and Danziger have been willing themselves to the Dreamplane on their own?"

_"Yes._"

Alonzo's head almost spun off his shoulders as he tried to piece it all together.

"'Each hibernation cycle,'" he said haltingly. "You mean when they're asleep, right?"

His eyebrows suddenly shot up to his hairline. "Wait a minute, they've been coming here every single night?" he asked incredulously.

The Terrians nodded. _"In the beginning, there were lapses of time between visits. Once your tribe leader's health was restored, their travels here have increased to almost every one of their sleep phases." _

The revelation was almost too much for Alonzo to drink in and he wondered how things had somehow gotten so out of control.

And then it hit him.

The sleepjumper was so nervous that he could barely form the syllables to ask the question.

"Are Devon and Danziger on the Dreamplane right now?"

Surmising that seeing was believing, and before Alonzo had time to contemplate the ramifications of what was about to happen, the Terrians crossed their staffs, temporarily bathing the pilot in blinding light. When the glare thankfully receded and allowed him to regain his bearings, he abruptly found himself flanked by both Terrians. Moreover, the pilot seemed to have been transported to a different location. He squinted in the dimness and realized that he had been firmly planted just inside the doorway of Devon's tent as it had appeared on the Dreamscape.

And it was quite the sight to behold.

Unfortunately, there was no way for Alonzo to avoid getting an eyeful of Devon and John in a very compromising position as the unclothed and quite animated couple were in the midst of making love on Devon's cot.

A completely mortified Alonzo tried to keep his eyes from falling out of his head, as well as refrain from loudly gasping in horror and alerting them to his presence. Instead, he whispered tersely over his shoulder to his Terrian companions.

"Get us the shank out of here!"

It was extremely fortunate for Alonzo that Devon and John's concentration was firmly committed to continuing their current activities. As such, neither leader ever noticed that outsiders had temporarily invaded their very personal space.

While Alonzo and the Terrians returned to their original venue in the cave, the pilot's eyes remained firmly closed to avoid any possible bright flashes of light and, more importantly, to fully concentrate on trying to erase the unsettling images from his brain of his two friends engaged in passionate sex.

Even after Alonzo was certain that he was back in the alcove and it was safe to open his eyes, he still felt as though his world was spinning out of control. And matters weren't helped much when he was again barraged by a series of reverberating questions from the still-perplexed Terrians regarding what exactly they'd been unwilling witnesses to during the past weeks.

Alonzo wanted to be truthful, but he wasn't at all prepared to provide the beings with an in-depth tutorial on the birds and the bees as it applied to humanity.

Dear. Shanking. God. How in the hell did he get himself into this mess?

"Uh, what you saw was a, um, form of expression between humans," he sputtered out, grasping for words. "It's a way that two people can communicate to let each other know that they, uh... care for one another deeply."

The Terrians' interest was piqued as they absorbed his explanation.

_"This is what you spoke of when you petitioned us to heal your tribe leader. It is an example of the individualized attachment that one human can feel for another."_

"Yes," Alonzo agreed, relieved that the creatures seemed to be treating this debacle as more of a learning experience, instead of being resentful over the intrusion.

_"But we fail to understand why they have chosen to engage in these rituals among our collective."_

Alonzo dragged his fingers through his dark hair, clearly overwhelmed and exhausted. "It's a mistake and I'm going to handle it," he vowed. "Just give me a day or two to work out the details."

Uneasiness continued to permeate his features as he stressed, "In the meantime, don't... do anything. It's really important that you don't let Devon and John know that you're here." He corrected himself. "That _they're_ here."

The sleepjumper wondered how the situation could possibly get worse. And then it came to him.

"And it's very, _very_ important that you leave Uly out of this," he emphasized, understandably concerned about accidentally scarring the child for life. "All right?"

The Terrians mulled over Alonzo's recommendations for several tension-filled moments before nodding their agreement. Although the creatures still appeared slightly confused about the motivations of the parties involved in this unusual scenario, they seemed to take it in stride, chalking it up as just another one of the seemingly countless idiosyncrasies of human nature.

As for Alonzo, he was beside himself with worry as he awoke in his cot. Now he completely understood why Devon and John had been acting so strangely around one another. It also made perfect sense that the reason they'd never taken any steps forward as a couple in reality had something to do with the fact that they were already actively achieving their desires in what they'd thought were their nightly dreams.

It was obvious to Alonzo that he now had a huge task to accomplish and no idea how to go about it without angering and humiliating his two friends, not to mention jeopardizing his own physical well-being once they'd found out what he'd done to them. And he had to achieve results quickly before the Terrians' patience ran out or the situation grew even worse than it already was.

There was little doubt in Alonzo's mind that it was going to be a very long night.


	9. Chapter 9

Damage control didn't begin to describe what needed to be accomplished on Alonzo's part. He'd barely slept and was up at the crack of dawn as he continued to strategize the best way to right his wrong without causing further emotional damage to two people that he cared about.

After much inward debate, the pilot had finally decided to stick with a slightly amended version of his original plan to approach Devon. This way, if he could persuade her to open up to Danziger about her feelings for him and let them finally tell one another the things that both of them needed to hear, they could at last move forward and begin a relationship. Moreover, it would no longer be necessary for them to venture into what they believed to be the recesses of their mind to achieve their innermost desires.

And best yet, after their mutual declaration of love was out in the open in the real world, neither leader needed to ever know that their conversations and actions had already previously played out on the Dreamplane. Alonzo even went so far as to speculate that, if Devon and John were ever to discover way down the line that they'd once experienced a courtship of sorts on the alternate reality before actually beginning a relationship, the knowledge might actually serve to strengthen their overall partnership. Anything was possible.

Alonzo stayed pretty much to himself all day as he intensely focused on working out the details of his impending conversation with Devon, as well as to more than occasionally dwell on the well-intentioned, but colossal mess he'd made. As a result, he never realized that he'd walked almost the entire twenty-four click hike and had barely said more than two words to anyone.

Just after Devon had called a stop for the day and Danziger had taken control of the construction of their latest temporary campsite, Julia took Alonzo aside out of concern. She told him that many of the others in Eden Advance had noticed a recent change in his behavior. He'd become distant and often looked troubled, prompting her to ask him if something was weighing heavily on his heart.

As much as Alonzo had wished to confide in her as to what he'd done, he'd decided to hold off a little longer in order to allow himself some time to correct his errors. Julia's love and devotion had come to mean more than anything in the world to Alonzo and he didn't want her to think any less of him. And at the moment, he was just plain ashamed of his actions.

Much later that same night as the attendance around the campfire dwindled down to only Alonzo, Devon and Danziger, the pilot put his plan into motion. He mentioned that John was scheduled to work the first guard shift of the evening, but he looked exhausted. Alonzo then generously offered to take the mechanic's place in order to to allow him to get some much needed rest.

After hemming and hawing a bit, Danziger finally agreed, thanking Alonzo for the gesture and offering to work one of his sentry shifts in the near future. He then climbed to his feet and exchanged his goodbyes before heading off to bed. Alonzo noticed Devon's gaze lingering on John as he made his way toward his quarters, and she quickly averted her eyes back to the firelight in embarrassment when she realized that she'd been caught red-handed by the sleepjumper.

This was just the opening that Alonzo needed to make his move.

"You should tell him," he said matter-of-factly.

Devon was completely blindsided by the drastic turn in conversation and she immediately began to squirm in her seat as she looked for the closest exit.

"I don't know what you mean," she lied terribly.

Alonzo leaned forward. "Devon, you know _exactly_ what I mean," he countered. "And it's pretty obvious that he feels the same way about you."

The leader's eyes went wide, seemingly stunned by Alonzo's pronouncement.

"John," she sputtered before making a second attempt. "He doesn't-"

She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath, defeatedly. "It's more complicated than that."

"I didn't say that it would be easy," Alonzo expressed with sincerity. "But I also don't believe that it's as hard as you think."

After a brief pause, he furthered, "Just talk to him, okay? Tell him your concerns. His answers might surprise you."

Alonzo couldn't conceal the briefest of smirks. "Besides, I gotta feeling that some small part of you even enjoys having a bit of complication in your life," he suggested. "Danziger, too."

As Alonzo continued to speak, a dozen emotions were warring inside of Devon and it was impossible for her to choose how to react on the inside, much less how to appropriately respond on the outside. The leader was experiencing everything from elation to fury to confusion to nausea.

When it came to discussing her personal life, over the past weeks, Devon had been the recipient of several heavy-handed but craftily benign comments about Danziger from Bess. Of course, this was not exactly surprising behavior from the resident matchmaker and she'd taken it in stride.

And though it hadn't occurred since the day that Devon had surprised her family and colleagues by accepting a proposal of a two year marriage contract to Uly's father, Yale could conceivably dole out advice when it came to the matters of Devon's heart.

Even Julia offering a pragmatic opinion on the subject of Devon's unrequited feelings for Danziger wasn't completely beyond the realm of possibility. But Alonzo? It just didn't make any sense to her.

Meanwhile, the intervention continued.

"Look, when we brought you out of cold-sleep, the first word out of your mouth was 'Uly,' but the second was 'John.' You asked for the two people who were most important to you; the ones you needed more than anybody else in the world," Alonzo expressed as he continued his oft-rehearsed remarks. "Devon, John is the man of your dreams. And it's time for you to face it and do something about it."

Devon had yet to regain her bearings and it showed.

"Have you spoken to him? I mean, how do you know that-"

She halted her query mid-sentence, suddenly feeling ridiculous. This was the first and only time since her day-long adventure in the East coast spider caves that she'd slipped and voiced her affection for Danziger aloud. And ironically, Alonzo had been the recipient of her confession then, too. But Devon had never been the type of person to wear her heart on her sleeve and she wasn't about to make a habit of it now.

"I'm not comfortable talking to you about this," she declared bluntly, shaking her head in disbelief.

Alonzo remained undeterred. In fact, he was surprised that she was being as receptive to his uninvited counsel as she was. A part of him had worried that she'd react negatively to this intrusion of her private life. At the very least, he'd figured that she might flee the scene before he was permitted to get to the crux of the matter.

He chose to answer her questions, both asked and unasked, while still carefully leaving out the pieces of truth that he'd had no right to bear witness to in the first place.

"I'm telling you all of this because you and Danziger are my friends. And I know how he feels because I see how he looks at you."

The pilot broke into his most convincing smile, one which had gotten him out of many a scrape back when he was breaking hearts on the Space Stations.

"Trust me on this, Devon. I guarantee that you both'll be happier when it's all out in the open."

Devon was silent for several, long moments and Alonzo could practically see the wheels turning in her brain as she mulled over his recommendation. When she finally replied, for the very first time in the conversation, there was a healthy dose of confidence to her tone.

"I'll think about it," she relayed as she shot to the standing position.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Devon wished Alonzo goodnight and immediately retreated to her tent, presumably to further process the pilot's words and to work out the details of how to best deal with Danziger.

Now that Alonzo was alone, he breathed a huge sigh of relief that his discussion with Devon had been such a success. And if all went well, Devon and Danziger's budding romance would at last progress the way it should have been in the first place if Alonzo's interference hadn't gotten them so far off-track. Moreover, he could finally lift this terrible weight off of his shoulders and permit himself to return to the happy-go-lucky former version of himself.

Of course, it was practically a foregone conclusion that Devon and John would again meet on the Dreamplane once they'd both fallen asleep. However, Alonzo was playing the odds that because the pair hadn't figured out the truth yet, one more night wouldn't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. And quite frankly, he didn't have much of a choice but to roll the dice and hope that it worked out in his favor.

As far as Alonzo was concerned, life getting back to normal in Eden Advance couldn't happen soon enough.

* * *

Devon let out a satisfied breath as she and her lover repositioned the covers and their bodies on her single-occupancy cot. As Danziger landed flat on his back, she snuggled against his side with her arm and leg securely draped around his torso.

She was going to miss this.

As much as it worried her, she had finally resolved to ignore every instinct screaming at her to do otherwise and had planned to heed Alonzo's advice by telling John that she'd fallen in love with him. And after that, Devon understood that everything would change between her and Danziger and probably not for the better, despite Alonzo's assurances to the contrary.

Of course, Devon had considered divulging her feelings for John more than once. In fact, the very day she'd returned to camp after being healed by the Terrians, she'd all but decided to come clean with him and hope for the best.

But then she'd fallen asleep and the courage that she'd lacked while awake, she'd found while she dreamed. And once she had allowed herself to fully surrender to her desire and act on those powerful feelings, she didn't want it to stop. During the past few weeks, she'd actually looked forward to going to bed just to be able to see and spend time with Danziger's image.

However, this posed several difficulties during Devon's waking hours. Now if she chose to confront John with the knowledge that she loved him and was then soundly rejected, she worried that not only would her friendship and working relationship with him be destroyed, she would also lose her ability to retreat into her dream world.

After all, how would she ever be able to look at the vision of Danziger and see his desire reflected back at her and not know for certain that it was all a lie? How could she savor every whispered promise of love and a lifetime commitment, each gentle and not-so-gentle caress as they explored one another's form, knowing full well in her heart of hearts that this was exactly what she'd wanted- what she'd _needed_- but could never be?

As such, she'd arrived at the sobering conclusion that she was willing to settle for keeping the real Danziger at arm's length, as long as the copied version of him remained her devoted paramour while she slept. To do otherwise would be too much of a risk.

Her nightly dreams of John were also causing a growing awkwardness between them during the day. She could no longer look at the mechanic without flashing to the memories of making love with his mirror image, and wondering if the real experience was anywhere close to as pleasureful as it was in her imagination.

Devon was also conflicted because there were actually times that she resented Danziger for not behaving more like the dream version of himself. It aggravated her to no end that he almost never seemed to take the initiative to show her the nurturing, more vulnerable side of his personality that she often saw him sharing with True and Uly. And Devon certainly wished that he would reconsider his decision to abandon her and The Eden Project once the colony ship arrived. That was, by far, his greatest and unforgivable sin.

And if matters weren't already complicated enough between them, Devon noticed that recently Danziger had seemed to sense her reluctance whenever she was forced to have contact with him and, in turn, was pulling away from her in kind. In truth, he really hadn't been very sociable where she was concerned since the day of her return three weeks before. However, when they did speak, Devon was troubled by his progressively aloof behavior in her presence, and she'd speculated that her expression and mannerisms might be giving too much away. And the idea that Danziger could possibly be reading her most confidential thoughts was certainly an additional incentive to refrain from too much interaction.

But over the past weeks, she'd come to the realization that her avoidance tactics weren't working either. As much as she treasured her nightly dreams with John, the ugly truth that her fantasies were little more than hollow charades was too obvious to deny. And with each passing day as she and the real Danziger grew farther and farther apart, she missed him. She yearned for his often brash and sometimes unsought opinions regarding just about every decision she made on behalf of Eden Advance. She longed for their spirited discussions when one or both of them felt that they weren't being heard. She missed his unyielding strength and camaraderie which she had grown to rely on. She just wanted her friend back. But she also knew that she wanted more.

Something had to give.

Devon momentarily shut her eyes and nestled her cheek against John's still slightly heaving chest, relishing the sensation of his calloused fingers as they began to trace unseen lines along her back. She let out a small chuckle, both from the tickling sensation of his chest hairs brushing against her nose and from the absurdity of the entire situation.

It was amusing to her that the fantasy version of Danziger was just as disheveled as the real version of him. The Devon of the Space Stations would likely have insisted on making several adjustments to his clothing and physical appearance in order to create a suitor that would be deemed more presentable. And when all was said and done, John would probably have ended up resembling something akin to his much better-groomed image during Bess and Morgan's virtual wedding reception.

But seeing and interacting with the tailored, unsullied VR version of Danziger had been an eye-opening experience for Devon. The look simply didn't suit him at all; nor did it suit her, for that matter. She realized that she preferred him just the way that he was, though she'd occasionally resist the urge to ask him to comb through that mess of entangled curls that he called hair.

Meanwhile, Danziger could hear and feel Devon's mirthful snickers and was eyeing her with more than a bit of curiosity.

"What's so damn funny, Adair?" he rumbled.

Devon's smile slowly evaporated. "Nothing. I just-"

She paused as she contorted her body to face him directly. "I've made my decision. But there's going to be consequences and I'm probably going to pay dearly for it. There's a good possibility that you'll never look at me the same way again. You might even hate me for destroying our friendship."

The slightest of chortles escaped her lips as she extended her hand and traced the line of Danziger's pronounced jawline. "Or who knows? Maybe you'll love me for it. Alonzo certainly seems to think so. That was a real shock to my system when he cornered me tonight at the campfire."

Danziger pitched his head back in bewilderment. What the hell did Alonzo have to do with anything?

His confusion went unnoticed as Devon continued with her confession. "The only thing that I'm sure of is that what I'm doing now isn't working. This isn't enough. I need more. I need you. The _real_ you. Not this deluded, idealized copy that tells me everything I want to hear and lets me treat you like my sexual puppet."

Devon was forced to stop for a few moments because Danziger had begun to shift awkwardly and she needed to maneuver her body more comfortably against him.

"I want to spend time getting to know you. I want to know about your family and your life growing up in the Quadrant," she furthered. "I want to know about your relationship with Elle, and if True reminds you of her just as much as Uly reminds me of Charles."

Devon briefly paused again when she felt Danziger draw in two quick intakes of breath which seemed to coincide with her speaking the names "Elle" and "Charles." It took her by surprise and she searched his startled features looking for answers before finally rationalizing that she was likely projecting her own anxiety onto his image.

She also took note that this was the most she'd actually conversed with Danziger in weeks. Usually, they'd been all but consumed with the fulfillment of physical desires and this had left little time for much else.

Not that she was complaining.

She proceeded with her declaration. "The real you is obviously too pig-headed to see what's right in front of your face, so I'm going to do whatever it takes to make you realize that this is your home. I'm willing to beg, threaten, even personally strap you to the Transrover if I have to, in order to keep you from leaving on the Jamestown. This is where your family is, John. This is where you belong."

Devon took a moment to inwardly recall the highlights of Alonzo's perceptive comments from a few hours before.

_"He feels the same way about you."_

_"John is the man of your dreams."_

_"Tell him your concerns. His answers might surprise you."_

_"I know how he feels because I see how he looks at you."_

Energized, Devon again shifted her position; this time, pulling her body upward and over Danziger's, effectively straddling his torso. Her face was mere inches away from his, permitting her to view several fresh beads of perspiration forming on his brow.

"How _do_ you look at me, John?" she whispered seductively, sifting her fingers through his sweat-soaked hair as she leaned in to brush his lips with hers. "Is it anything close to this? Just how different are you from the man that I dream about every night?"

Devon edged forward to kiss him again, but this time Danziger recoiled from her advances. His eyes were large and his voice was halting.

"Something's wrong."

Devon was slightly befuddled by the mechanic's sudden retreat, but she remained unflustered. In fact, his actions only served to strengthen her resolve.

"Nothing's wrong," she assured him, tilting her face forward with the intention of picking up where she'd left off. "For the first time in a long time, I'm thinking clearly. My dreams-"

"Devon," Danziger interrupted, his hands seemingly coming out of nowhere to firmly grip the sides of her head to hold it in place. "These aren't your dreams. They're _mine_."

She broke into a coquettish grin. "Don't be ridiculous."

Danziger didn't return her smile. "I'm not," he countered, his apprehension increasing with each syllable. "These are _my_ dreams. Been havin' 'em for a couple of months now. Last few weeks, it's been almost every night."

Devon was slow to believe his words. "What are you saying? That you're really John? That you and I are-"

She paused to take a hard look at Danziger's shell-shocked features and her face went ashen.

Her voice raised at least a full octave as she shrieked, "This... this is really happening?"

It was as if a grenade had exploded between their two bodies as they propelled themselves away from one another. Although up until that very moment, Devon and John had been exposed to one another in every conceivable sense of the word, suddenly modesty reigned supreme. Devon flew backward and barely landed on her feet, ripping the blanket off of both of them in the process in order to prudely drape it around herself. This left Danziger hastily clawing for the only item within his immediate grasp- a pillow which he strategically positioned to conceal his most private of parts.

But there was no way to hide their horrified expressions.

"I don't believe this! How is this shankin' possible?" Danziger bellowed, scrambling to locate his pants. "I'm dreaming this, right?"

"Yes, but so am I! We're both here!" Devon snapped back in between staccato breaths, mortified and beyond embarrassed as she tried to shove her arms through the holes of her shirt while still shrouded under the blanket. "Whatever this is, it's obviously not a regular dream. It's almost as if-"

Her posturing went ramrod straight and she emitted an alarmed gasp.

"Oh dear God, I think we're on the Dreamplane!"

The theory prompted a double-take from Danziger.

"What? How?" he barked in quick succession before taking a moment to think it through. "Nah, no way. I haven't seen a single Digger here."

As they furiously redressed while facing opposite walls, Devon felt as though she was about to lose the contents of her stomach. And she was starting to see Alonzo's coincidental advice in a whole new light.

"The man of my dreams," she whispered under her breath as she pivoted back to face Danziger.

The leader shut her eyes briefly and emitted a deep shudder before declaring loudly enough for Danziger to hear, "Alonzo. He knows."

She did her best to ignore John's deer-in-the-headlights reaction and instead searched her memory for additional clues of the sleepjumper's involvement. One of her previous dreams immediately came to mind.

"He brought me here once," she murmured.

She was taken aback when Danziger's entire demeanor unexpectedly darkened and he appeared as though he'd just been sucker-punched in the gut.

"Wait a minute, are you saying that you were here with Alonzo, too?" he exclaimed in a tone loaded with so many raw, explosive emotions that Devon dared not try to decipher any of them.

However, the implication was clear and this prompted Devon to quickly dive into a much-needed explanation before the situation could deteriorate even further.

"Back at the winter camp, Alonzo brought me here to warn me that it was you who'd been overtaken by the Terrian spirit, not him. He came up with the plan to save your life," she elaborated. "At the time, I thought that it was just a dream; my subconscious' way to help me understand that you were the one in danger. Obviously, I was wrong."

As she spoke, for the briefest of moments, Devon wondered if it had been Alonzo who had repeatedly transported them to the Dreamplane without their knowledge or consent. However, she quickly nixed the idea. Alonzo was their friend and, as such, could never have acted in such a cruel, underhanded manner.

At the same time, a now seemingly defeated, fully-clothed Danziger sank down on the edge of the cot to replace his boots, momentarily forgetting that it didn't matter if he was shoeless or not because, in reality, he was still sound asleep in his real bed.

"So you're basically tellin' me that 'Lonz has known about all this for a good while now and didn't say a damn thing," he declared bitterly. "He just let us-"

The mechanic's words drifted off into oblivion as he rubbed at his temples with his thumb and index finger.

After another few seconds of tense silence, there was a sudden burst of aggression as John began to punch himself repeatedly in the thighs with as much force as he could muster.

"What on earth are you doing?" Devon hissed as she lunged forward to grab at his arms to stop his apparent tantrum.

John roughly shook himself free of her grasp, refusing to make eye contact as he erupted in fury.

"I'm trying to wake up from this shankin' nightmare, so I can get some goddamned answers!"

Realizing that the infliction of physical pain alone wasn't enough to get the results he'd needed, Danziger decided to take it up a notch.

"Dammit, wake up! Wake up!" he began shouting at the top of his lungs, increasing the speed and intensity of each blow to his legs. "Wake up! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

Danziger's revised plan worked like a charm and reality hit him head-on as his eyes shot wide open. He was immediately thrust to the brink of hyperventilation as he wildly kicked off the blankets and flung himself out of his cot, landing with a thud on the compacted dirt. He hastily struggled to his feet and faltered several paces backward, nearly landing on his tailbone.

John created such a commotion that True was jostled awake. And the sight before her was most certainly grounds for concern.

At first she feared that her Dad might have taken ill based upon his pale skin, his shallow gasps and the generous amounts of perspiration streaming down his face. But when his observed his haunted, distraught expression, she knew him well enough to understand that it must be something else entirely. If fact, if True didn't know any better, she would have guessed that he'd just seen a ghost.

"Are you okay, Dad?" she asked, her cocoa eyes brimming with worry as she realized that he was physically shaking.

"Go back to bed, True-Girl," he stammered much more harshly than he'd intended.

After inwardly berating himself for addressing his daughter in such a severe tone, he tried in vain to steady his emotions before lying through his teeth, "I'm fine. Just need to get some air is all."

Danziger didn't wait for True's response and stumbled out of his tent in his socks after forgetting that he'd replaced his boots on the Dreamplane, but not in the real world. The mechanic's strides across camp increased in intensity as his initial discombobulation evolved into seething anger. By the time he'd set his eyes upon Alonzo warming himself by the campfire, he could no longer contain his rage.

"You knew! And you did nothing!" he bellowed as he quickly approached.

John didn't give the seated pilot time to react before grabbing him roughly by the lapels of his jacket and lifting him up to his eye level.

"What the shank is wrong with you?" he roared, shaking Alonzo with unleashed fury.

As soon as Alonzo was able to register what was going on- and what had obviously transpired between Devon and Danziger during the past few hours while he'd been on guard duty- he knew that he was done for.

He was too filled with remorse to put up any resistance to the assault.

"I'm so sorry, John! I didn't mean for any of this to happen," he relayed in between violent tremors as the mechanic jerked his body back and forth like a rag doll.

It was if Alonzo's words caused a bolt of electricity to surge through Danziger. With widened eyes, he abruptly released Alonzo and faltered back a step.

"Wait a minute, _you _did this? You put us on the Dreamplane on purpose?" he asked in disbelief, his expression a mix of shock and betrayal.

Alonzo tried to regain his footing. "At first, yes. But things got out of control-"

Hearing all that he needed to, Danziger swung with all of his might, his fist squarely connecting with Alonzo's nose. A torrent of blood spurted outward as the sleepjumper was propelled several feet before ending up flat on his back.

"Hey, hey, hey!" came a rapid succession of yells from Walman as he exited his tent just in time to witness an enraged Danziger tackle Alonzo and then begin to beat the pulp out of him.

The crewman rushed toward the pair and tried in vain to restrain John as he landed punch after punch. Most of the group was roused awake by the ensuing uproar and, as soon as they poked their heads out of their respective quarters to investigate, they were also pulled into the chaos. Worse yet, True had mimicked her father's path to the campfire and was frozen in place, horror-struck by his brutality.

"Daddy, stop!" she screamed.

Danziger was too focused on exacting his pound of flesh from Alonzo to heed her desperate pleas and it was necessary for Mazatl, Cameron and Baines to join Walman in the endeavor to pull Danziger off of the still non-combative Alonzo.

Once the duo was finally separated, Danziger continued to punch and kick wildly in an attempt to free himself of their collective grasp and resume the pummeling.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Baines grunted as he and the others struggled to hold Danziger at bay.

John again tuned out everyone but the subject of his vengeance.

"You're a dead man, Solace!" he hollered at the injured pilot. "Get up! Get up!"

At about the same time, Julia and Devon appeared at opposite corners of the campsite. And their reactions couldn't have been more diverse.

"Oh my God, Alonzo!" Julia cried out, diving into the fray to assess the damage that had been inflicted upon her lover and, if necessary, to physically shield him from further harm should Danziger break free.

"What the shank is wrong with you?" she shouted at the mechanic in outrage, unknowingly repeating Danziger's own question to Alonzo just minutes before.

Meanwhile, instead of immediately taking command, Devon was noticeably acting out of sorts and silently remained on the sidelines, her expression undecipherable. She at last compelled her feet to move toward the group and came to a standstill next to a still thrashing and hollering Danziger.

As soon as their gazes met, Danziger's aggression wilted into submission and he stopped fighting against his temporary captors. He shook his head in disgust and motioned toward a battered and still-horizontal Alonzo.

"It's him, Devon. He orchestrated the whole damn thing."

While John's disturbing words sank in and Devon's worst suspicions were realized, she looked as though she was simultaneously experiencing all five stages of grief, with the noticeable exception of acceptance. As a result, the already worried crowd of Edenites watched in bewilderment as Devon didn't just choose not to diffuse the volatile situation, she appeared to throw gasoline onto the fire.

She turned to Alonzo and spat, "How could you do this to us? This isn't a game! We aren't pawns for you to move around a chess board at your whim!"

Devon's breathing quickened as she began to pace back and forth in front of the downed pilot. "You told me to trust you! My God, what were you thinking?"

No longer confident as to who her friends really were, Devon's next turned her ire toward Julia. The leader's eyes were hard and unforgiving.

"Did you know about this?"

The doctor's response reflected her exasperation. "Know about _what_?" she exclaimed. "Have you all lost your minds? What's gotten into all of you?"

"It's my fault," Alonzo mumbled as blood poured freely from his nose and bottom lip. "I didn't kn-"

"Quiet! Not another shankin' word!" Danziger growled, not interested in hearing his explanation, and trying to spare Devon and himself any further humiliation in front of the group. "We got nothin' more to say to each other!"

With a sudden burst of force, John writhed his body from his fellow Edenites' control, liberating himself.

His voice was low and dangerous as he loomed over the pilot. "You stay the hell away from me, ya' hear?" he seethed, angrily jabbing his finger at him to emphasize the seriousness of his warning.

John then opted to remove himself from the altercation before his temper crested again. As he turned, his eyes locked onto Devon's and their pained gazes lingered on one another for several moments before he broke contact and pushed his way through the small crowd of obviously shaken onlookers.

He marched past his daughter who had been pulled into Bess' protective embrace.

"Let's go, True," he commanded, unable to meet her tear-filled eyes.

As True pulled herself from Bess' grasp and obediently followed her Dad back to their quarters, Alonzo made another attempt to tell his side of the story.

"Devon, let me explain-"

"No," Devon interjected, her tone severe and eerily quiet. "You've done enough."

She let out a slow, shuddering breath before forcibly transforming herself into business mode and pivoting to face the others.

"Everyone go back to bed," she directed. "We're getting an early start tomorrow and it's going to be a very long day."

Without another word, Devon quickly withdrew from the scene and vanished into the sanctuary of her tent, leaving the crew to stare at each other in stunned silence for what seemed like an eternity. As such, many of them visibly jumped when a panicked voice finally pierced the stillness.

"Well, don't just stand there! Help me get Alonzo to the med tent!" Julia exclaimed as she struggled to pull the badly bruised and bleeding pilot to his feet.

The group collectively rushed to Alonzo's aid with Mazatl and Cameron relieving Julia of her physical burden by hoisting him upright, eliciting a series of pained moans from the nearly unconscious sleepjumper. As carefully as possible, Mazatl and Cameron then each draped one of Alonzo's limp arms around their shoulders and lifted him until his feet no longer touched the ground. Julia sprinted ahead of the trio in order to ready a cot and a plethora of hypos to treat Alonzo's injuries as he was carried to the med-quarters.

This left the others in Eden Advance with little else to do but quietly speculate amongst themselves what possibly could have transpired between their three friends which culminated in the disaster they'd just witnessed.

Eventually everyone retreated back to their quarters for the night, but most found it very difficult to return to a peaceful slumber.


	10. Chapter 10

It was if the entire surface of planet G889 had suddenly been carpeted with a thick layer of eggshells. Six days after the violent clash between Danziger and Alonzo- and apparently Devon- had transpired, the members of Eden Advance were still treading lightly as they walked; carefully watching each and every step of their daily hike, so as not to disturb the scenery around them.

Indeed, the tension among the crew had become so thick that the largest chainsaw in their arsenal of supplies couldn't have sliced through it. As the group reached and then exceeded their twenty click quotas, their movements were swift and nearly soundless. Very few words were exchanged between the crew, and gossiping and even basic pleasantries had become nonexistent while in public.

Of course, Devon and John had been acting rather oddly ever since Devon's miraculous healing the prior month, and lately the normally jovial Alonzo had become withdrawn and had seemed to be riddled with stress. However after their violent brawl, the trio was openly exhibiting their anxiety, despair and even hostility with anyone who was unfortunate enough to come into contact with them. And their misery was like an airborne virus that spread throughout the rest of Eden Advance, leaving raw nerves and emotional devastation in its wake.

As they traveled, Devon had remained steadfastly in place at the helm of the caravan while Danziger now trailed behind in the very back. This left a still slightly black and blue Alonzo smack dab in the middle of the convoy. At first, the group had assumed that the traumatic and unresolved conflict had been Devon and Danziger firmly aligned against Alonzo. However, based upon the fact that none of the three would speak to, or even glance at, one another, some reconsidered this presumption.

Danziger's overall demeanor had become introspective and reclusive. The mechanic was astonishingly quiet and he no longer spoke up to take issue with any of Devon's leadership decisions, and in turn, Devon no longer requested his input. In fact, the breakdown in communication between the first and second in command had deteriorated so badly that whenever Devon and John were forced to exchange information, they'd use go-betweens to send messages to one another.

The crew also observed that Danziger appeared to be so deeply affected by this rift in their friendship that he was suffering from bouts of insomnia. For the past week, the mechanic had ended up commandeering almost every evening guard shift and he'd remain awake all night long. What paltry amounts of sleep he was able to garner added up to little more than occasional and much-too-brief naps in the passenger seats of the Dunerail or the 'Rover during the daylight hours.

Worse yet, it was apparent that Julia had somehow been dragged into whatever had taken place between the quarreling threesome. Though no crew-members had dared to ask her to provide any of the gory details, the physician had obviously been filled in by Alonzo, most likely while she was patching up his many facial wounds.

As such, Julia had been placed in a very difficult position. Though she'd chosen to stand by Alonzo, traveling beside him in the daytime and continuing to share her living quarters with him at night, she'd also continued to speak with Devon and Danziger. However, the crew duly noted that Julia's interactions with the two leaders were seldom, succinct and stayed focused on the business at hand. The doctor also looked conflicted and downright miserable during those exchanges, as did Devon and John.

In several instances when the crew was behind closed doors and out of the earshots of the involved parties, they'd attempted to piece together an explanation from the few details they'd gleaned from the argument from the week before. They knew little more than the feud had involved hurt feelings and some sort of broken trust. It also seemed clear to them that Alonzo had either made an important decision or had taken a certain action without either leader's consent which had resulted in lasting repercussions.

It was first speculated that either John or Devon had chosen to confide in Alonzo who, in turn, had betrayed him or her by disclosing the information to the other. And whatever this secret was, the particulars must have been so volatile and egregious that it had shattered the friendships of all three.

Another suggestion was that Alonzo's ever-strengthening bond with the Terrians had come into play, and he'd gone behind Devon's back and had formed some sort of an alliance with the creatures. If this had indeed been the case and he'd been making decisions on Eden Advance's- or specifically Uly's- behalf without Devon's input, enduring both leader's wrath would have been a possible outcome. However, this certainly wouldn't explain why Devon and John were no longer on speaking terms.

And although the idea was quickly nixed by the crew, based upon what they'd been privy to regarding Alonzo's shocking confession of an attraction to Devon while he was under the influence of an East coast spider bite- as well as Danziger's decidedly negative reaction to said confession- it had even been proposed that the source of the skirmish was that the trio had become mired in a sordid love triangle.

After much discussion, none of the theories that the Edenites came up with held much weight under scrutiny, and they were completely at a loss. It just didn't make sense to them at all. The only thing that they were sure of was that the foundation of Eden Advance had been fractured, and the damage inflicted was quite possibly permanent.

* * *

Devon hadn't felt this alone since the first days after Uly had been diagnosed with The Syndrome. Indeed, the events of the past week had placed a tremendous emotional strain on her, and it was becoming progressively worse with no end in sight.

However, it wasn't as if she'd lacked friends who were ready and willing to help her. Over the past days, both Bess and Yale had separately approached her to volunteer their ears and complete support if she'd needed someone to talk to. Devon was grateful for their generous offers, but the truth of the matter was that the one person whom Devon really wanted to share her feelings with appeared to be completely beyond her reach.

In Devon's eyes, Danziger had made it exceedingly clear by his standoffish behavior that he'd wanted nothing to do with her at the moment. He'd even gone so far as to switch sleep schedules with her to ensure that they didn't accidentally find themselves together on the Dreamplane.

But to be fair, Devon had been just as hurt and confused by their predicament as John was. As such, she hadn't dropped a single hint or made even the slightest overture toward the mechanic to suggest that she'd wanted to reinitiate contact with him either. They couldn't go back and change what they'd said and done, nor were they able to move forward, so there was nothing left but to remain stuck in a holding pattern.

Devon didn't know how to make their situation right, but she knew that things couldn't stay the way they were for very much longer. And though she fully understood that she was not the root cause of this rift between her, John and Alonzo, by allowing its perpetuation, she was partly responsible for the hostile work environment currently endured by the rest of the already beleaguered Eden Advance. Every one of them depended upon her to lead by example, and there was simply too much at stake to let them down. Enough was enough.

Although it was nearly midnight, Devon compelled herself to rise from her cot and quietly dress. After confirming that Uly was comfortably tucked in his bed and firmly in the grips of a deep sleep, she slipped out of her quarters into the brisk night.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to the fire pit at the center of their campsite and, more importantly, to the large silhouette of John Danziger which was gracefully framed by the red-hot embers.

Devon took several purposeful steps towards him before pausing in her tracks and reevaluating her choices. After a few moments of contemplation, she changed course and instead marched toward one of the neighboring tents, taking note of the faint hue of a lumalamp inside the dwelling. She paused at the threshold, briefly closing her eyes and steeling her emotions before lightly knocking on the canvas.

When the nylon flap was pulled back, Julia's eyes went as wide as dinner plates at the sight of Devon at her doorstep.

The leader looked over Julia's shoulder to view a still dressed Alonzo who appeared to be equally taken aback by their late night visitor.

"Good, you're still awake," Devon remarked, trying as sound as casual as possible despite the tense circumstances. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Julia replied, pulling the tarp back to allow Devon entry.

Assuming that Devon wished to speak with Alonzo alone, the doctor felt it best to make herself scarce.

"Just let me get my jacket," Julia relayed, yanking her coat off of the back of a nearby chair. "Take all the time you need."

Devon held up her hands in a halting gesture. "Wait, there's no need for you to go. In fact, I'd prefer it if you stayed," she declared before amending slightly, "If that's all right with Alonzo, of course."

As a still very nervous Alonzo heartily nodded his agreement, Julia replaced her jacket on her chair and sat down. Alonzo then hurriedly grabbed an overturned crate and offered it to an appreciative Devon before seating himself on the edge of his cot directly across from her.

Devon schooled her features to appear as impartial as possible while she straightened her back and rested her folded hands just above her knees.

"I'm ready to listen," she declared. "Tell me everything."

Alonzo exhaled a full, cleansing breath and started from the beginning.


	11. Chapter 11

Even though John Danziger was technically on sentry duty, his attention was concentrated elsewhere. He spent much of his night focusing on remaining awake despite an appalling and almost dangerous lack of sleep during the past week. Sometimes he'd repair machinery that had either been the victim of careless hands, had been worn out from overuse, or that simply hadn't been constructed to withstand G889's unforgiving weather patterns.

Other times he'd be in motion, endlessly walking the grounds in the search for the next obstacle that would undoubtedly cross Eden Advance's path and put their survival in jeopardy. But more often than not, Danziger would remain rooted in place in front of the campfire, berating himself for his having allowed his life to be turned into a complete calamity.

The mechanic didn't want to see or speak to anyone; a trait which also seemed to be shared by Devon and Alonzo. And for better or worse, he noticed that the rest of the crew appeared to be following the troubled trio's nonverbalized wishes by avoiding them as much as possible and by grinding their discussions to an awkward halt whenever one of them neared.

John's agitation had amplified to the degree that he had even considered deserting Eden Advance and reinitiating his ambitious, months-old plan to embark on a long range solo scout. However, he'd ended up giving up on the idea for a host of reasons.

Firstly, he reminded himself that all three vehicles were barely holding together at this point. If he took the ATV only to have it finally give up the ghost down the road, he might not have the tools on hand to bring it back to life. And the last thing that John needed was to end up stranded for an indefinite period of time until the group finally caught up to him. Moreover, if and when the Dunerail and the Transrover broke down after the mechanic had left, the others might not know how to fix them. The crew would be left with no choice but to abandon one or both of the vehicles as worthless scrap.

Another obstacle to Danziger leaving was that True had become extra clingy of late. Though she'd been kept in the dark regarding the details of last week's physical altercation, as well as to the source of her father's subsequent misery, it was clear to her that Alonzo had done something to hurt her Dad. As such, True had chosen to cut all contact with the pilot. She'd also doted over Danziger much more than usual and was fiercely protective of him while he slept during the day. John correctly surmised that, if he had approached his daughter about leaving Eden Advance to go off by himself for several months, she would have blown a gasket.

But by far, Danziger's the most glaring hindrance to bringing his scouting plan to fruition was that it would be required of him to solicit Devon's approval. And at the moment it was just too damn painful to look at her.

Though it had recently intensified for obvious reasons, John's avoidance of Devon had actually begun much earlier. He hadn't at all been prepared to nearly lose her to a mysterious illness, and he certainly hadn't been ready to leave her behind and push the group onward to New Pacifica. Despite Devon's healing and her return to leadership, her near-death experience was a deep wound that John had yet to fully recover from.

And what had made it so much worse was that, simply put, he should have known better. After all, he'd been through a similar situation just over a decade before. Back then, instead of his standard practice of constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop whenever circumstances were swaying in his favor, he'd permitted himself to entertain the notion that there could truly be a better future for him on the horizon; one that included a lifetime of love, companionship and a family. Against his better judgment, he'd allowed himself to hope.

But then it had all been ripped away in what had seemed to be a matter of seconds. A painful lesson had been learned; one which Danziger had vowed never to repeat again. He'd closed himself completely off, instead choosing to focus all of his energies on the one good thing to come from his temporary bout of misguided optimism: True.

Indeed, it was over a decade- plus twenty-two years of cold sleep- before Devon Adair had barged into John's life, endlessly irritating him while somehow reawakening his long-buried desire for something more for himself. It had been quite a shock to his system, though not altogether an unwelcome one.

And while he could never fully convince himself that he'd ever be able to achieve a permanent romantic partnership with the billionaire heiress and former C.E.O. of a multi-orbit empire, John realized that he'd be willing to settle for whatever parcel of happiness he could carve out by remaining at her side and providing her with his unyielding support.

Besides, it couldn't be ignored that Devon Adair had once been willing to toss away everything- her mission, her entire future- for a broken down penal colonist who'd been convicted of mass murder. Though that entire sordid affair between Devon and Shepard had been perplexing, appalling and downright infuriating, ironically it had also served as a rather twisted source of encouragement to John that even a lowly Drone like him might someday be able to win Devon's heart.

But just as Danziger had finally mustered the fortitude to take a small step toward developing something more serious between them, fate had yet again intervened, plummeting the mechanic into the depths of anguish for the second time in his life. It had also forced him to consider that perhaps Devon had been right; there was such a thing as curses after all.

Though Devon had apparently returned to her old self, Danziger knew that he hadn't. Seeing her- and still loving her, despite his most voracious efforts to feel otherwise- was creating constant difficulties for him. He tried to stay away from her as much as he could while still actively filling his role as her second in command, but to his dismay, she appeared to pick up on his awkwardness during their interactions and had begun to look at him differently.

Once Devon had started to avoid him more frequently, Danziger found himself retreating more and more into his now-nightly fantasies of her, rationalizing that if he couldn't be with her in real life, at least he could have her in his dreams. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he'd felt free to say and act on his true feelings. For those few wonderful hours, he was able to push aside the harsh realities of his waking life and indulge in what he'd believed could never be.

And now this, too, had blown up in Danziger's face, leaving him humiliated, confused, enraged and a host of emotions that he couldn't begin to reconcile in his head. Moreover, the mechanic wrestled with the knowledge that he had been played for a fool by one of his most trusted friends for reasons he'd yet to understand and which he was still much too angry to have explained to him.

As for Devon, John had no idea how she was feeling right now and he wasn't planning to ask anytime soon. While he fully understood that the leader had been duped by Alonzo just as he had, the perpetually pessimistic mechanic couldn't be certain of her true motivations for taking part in the dreams, nor could he accept the many declarations that she'd made on the Dreamscape at face value.

Back on the Stations, he'd witnessed plenty of privileged sons and daughters slumming for sex in the darkest and most poverty-stricken corners of the Quadrant; disgusted, yet curious to see how the other side lived and leaving nothing but a trail of broken promises, thinly-veiled threats and a few discarded credits in their wake.

As John had gotten to know Devon since they'd crashed onto G889, there was no doubt in his mind that she was different from any other Blueblood that had ever crossed his path, but he also couldn't manage to quell his fear that even a golden apple could fall only so far from its tree.

He knew full well that there had been no malicious or duplicitous intent on Devon's part as she engaged in their shared dreams. After all, she was an unwitting victim, too. However, John considered that Devon's approach to the fantasies might have been completely different from his. For all he knew, she might have regarded her time there as nothing more than a harmless amusement without consequences; a way to exorcise the stress and perhaps even the loneliness that accompanied the innumerable responsibilities of heading The Eden Project, as well as single parenthood.

Of course, Danziger hoped that Devon had wanted their dreams to be real just as much as he did. But until he heard that affirmation directly from her lips, he was sticking to his tried and true plan of avoidance, antisocial behavior, and expectation of the very worst. Danziger believed that, to act otherwise, would only lead to more heartbreak down the road.

* * *

It was just after one thirty in the morning when Devon exited Alonzo and Julia's tent, feeling exhausted but infused with more confidence than she'd had in weeks. She knew that she was much too keyed up to fall sleep, so at first she'd intended to return to her quarters in order to process all that she'd learned from the remorseful pilot's confession. However, the moment that her eyes fell on Danziger, who appeared to be in the identical stance as when she'd last seen him about an hour and a half earlier, her plans changed.

She cautiously approached the mechanic from behind, noting his rigid posturing and hands that were balled into tight fists. John's shoulders and expression became even further strained as Devon rounded the blazing campfire and seated herself on a crate directly across from him.

Despite John's obvious reluctance to interact with her, Devon didn't want to waste any more time and she dove right in.

"I talked to Alonzo," she said plainly, the first words she'd spoken to him in a week.

The few moments that it took for John to answer felt like an eternity to the leader.

"Good for you," at last came the soft and much too even reply.

John began to grind the toes of his boots into the dirt as Devon arched forward, relaying, "For what it's worth, he's very sorry."

Danziger's squinted eyes remained glued to the fire. "He should be."

Devon let out a slow breath as she realized that it was going to be like pulling teeth to get John to voluntarily converse to her. However, she remained undeterred by his lack of enthusiasm. After all, since she'd hired him for Eden Advance, she'd taken part in an untold number of discussions with him in which he'd been an unwilling participant. Both of them should be more than used to it by now.

"Alonzo meant well," she began in an encouraging tone. "He was trying to do something good for us. He just went about it the wrong way."

Devon stopped to give Danziger the opportunity to interject his opinion, but when nothing was offered, she revealed, "And you should know he only sent us to the Dreamplane a handful of times and it was only during our winter camp."

She paused before further clarifying, "Except for once while I was in cold-sleep. He said that he wasn't able to reach me, but that you were there."

Danziger visibly winced at the revelation and his gaze involuntarily darted up to meet Devon's, permitting her to register the pain in his eyes. This not only confirmed Alonzo's account of the depth of John's despair after she had fallen ill, it also caused her to become briefly flustered.

As the mechanic's features hardened and his line of sight returned to the firelight, Devon decided to push forward with the explanation.

"Apparently, those other times were our doing. Our minds must have learned the path and we transported ourselves there on our own. Alonzo had no idea what was happening until last week when the Terrians told him."

Danziger emitted a cheerless snort as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Huh, I must've missed the part where he came to us as a friend and let us know what was goin' on," he scoffed.

"He did try, sort of," Devon offered, fumbling a bit as she attempted to put an optimistic spin on the sleepjumper's actions. "I mean, you're right. Alonzo didn't come right out and confess what he'd done. I wish he had, but he didn't. I think he figured that nothing positive could come out of telling us the gritty details. The whole thing would've blown up in all of our faces, just as it ended up doing. So instead he took me aside and tried to get me to be honest about my feelings and to trust my instincts."

She shrugged and the barest hint of a smile escaped her lips. "Maybe when it comes down to it, Alonzo knows us better than we know ourselves."

The comment prompted Danziger's stone-cold eyes to turn to hers.

"Devon, I know _exactly_ who I am," he countered in a low tone that had more than a slightly bitter edge to it. "And I also know that he had no goddamned right to mess with our heads like that."

"I know. _He_ knows," she agreed, trying to come across as pragmatic as possible in an effort to keep John calm. The last thing she'd wanted was to have their conversation escalate into an argument; or even worse, to have him completely shut down. What they had to discuss was much too important.

"Alonzo feels awful. And when you're ready to hear it, he'd like to tell you so, himself," she added.

Devon let her words sink in for a few seconds before carefully switching subjects to an even more delicate matter.

"Can I ask you something?"

_Would it stop you if I said 'no?'_, Danziger sarcastically pondered as he mentally braced himself for the inevitable grilling that he had been simultaneously desperate for and dreading for the past six days.

As Devon awaited John's consent to alter the path of their discussion, she noticed him visibly gulp and attempt to steady his breathing. His focus never veered from the fire as he also somehow managed to further tighten his already rigid jawline. However, despite his obvious awkwardness, Devon took his lack of verbal resistance as a green light to proceed.

There was plenty of caution in her voice as she asked, "Did you have any clue that it was real?"

The question hung in the air for several tension-filled moments before John let out a sharp breath and his gaze nose-dived to his boots.

"No," he replied, his tone barely audible. "Of course not."

As uncomfortable as it obviously was for both of them, Devon pressed onward.

"The things that you said. The things that you- that we- did," she began hesitantly. "Do you really feel that way? Or were you just playing along?"

Though this most certainly hadn't been her intention, Devon's choice of words had unwittingly exposed Danziger's deepest fear, causing his heart to sink and his anger to surge.

There was no masking the resentment in his voice and expression as he met her eyes.

"'_Playing along_?' Is that all it was to you? Some sort of a game?" he balked, clearly offended.

Devon was more than a bit taken aback by John's adverse reaction. As much as she truly cared for him, it never failed to amaze her how exasperating he could be sometimes. Yet again, she wondered if she would ever completely understand him.

"No, it wasn't-" she stumbled before pausing to compose herself in order to keep the discussion from spiraling completely out of control.

As she took a few much needed breaths, she observed the hurt that was not so conspicuously buried beneath the seething antagonism that Danziger was currently displaying. It was also readily apparent that it was high time for her to set him straight on a few monumental details regarding their complicated relationship.

Their gazes remained locked and she held his complete attention.

"John, I want you to listen to me, because I don't want there to be any more misunderstandings about this," Devon proclaimed with quiet conviction. "Every single word. Every single touch. Those feelings were real to me."

Her voice was infused with a healthy dose of affection and a dash of fear as she added, "I meant all of it."

Devon watched, beyond fascinated as Danziger's chiseled features gradually began to soften before her eyes. She'd rarely seen him wear such an open, unguarded expression and this vulnerability was exactly what she'd been longing for.

However, her elation quickly transformed into confusion when suddenly Danziger broke eye contact and rocketed to the standing position. Without uttering a word or providing an explanation of any kind, the mechanic abandoned Devon and his sentry post, seemingly grabbing the mag-pro as an afterthought as he walked away.

Devon was so stunned that it took her several moments to find her voice.

"Where are you going?" she called after him as she rose to her feet.

Not only did Danziger offer no response to Devon's query, she was almost positive that he actually increased the length of his stride as he vanished into the shadows of the three vehicles parked about thirty yards away.

Now alone with only her bewilderment and the dying campfire to keep her company, Devon couldn't begin to process what could possibly have induced Danziger to abruptly desert her for more remote pastures.

Plus, she was getting annoyed.

With a determined pace that rivaled Danziger's, the leader marched after him and disappeared into the darkness. She tried her best to adjust to the dim surroundings and her eyes sought out the area's single light source, a lumalamp haphazardly placed near the front tire of the Dunerail. Just as her sight had improved enough for her to make out basic shapes, a soft thud drew her attention to darkest patch of territory at the rear of the caravan. She could barely decipher Danziger's stationary form as he appeared to set the mag-pro against the vehicle's cab.

Devon's eyes narrowed to slits as she stomped toward him. "You know, that wasn't easy for me," she exclaimed in a nervous yet more than slightly scolding tone.

She firmly planted herself in the small patch of grass directly in between him and the Transrover. "I just poured out my heart to you."

Despite remaining cloaked in the shadows, Devon's close proximity allowed her to see as well as hear the mechanic slowly exhale a large breath.

"I know," he replied plainly.

John's ambiguous and way too pithy answer was beyond irritating to Devon. It was also nearly panic-inducing and put everything that she'd thought she'd learned from the dreams into question. But even if she had completely misread the mechanic's intentions and desires, how could he be so insensitive to her feelings right now, especially after all they'd been through together?

Devon dug her heels into the soft earth, reminding herself of her decision that, for better or for worse, tonight was the night that she and Danziger were going to lay all of their cards on the table regarding how deeply they cared for one another... even if it killed one or both of them.

She folded her arms rigidly across her chest in an unconscious effort to protect her heart from further emotional damage.

"Don't you have anything that you want to say to me?" she demanded.

Devon was so completely off-balance, as well as consumed with readying herself for a painful rebuke, that it had never occurred to her that she had finally said exactly what Danziger had needed to hear at the fire pit, and that his hasty retreat had actually been a calculated move to relocate them both away from the center of camp. As it stood, now John had her right where he'd wanted her all along.

"Nope, not a word," he said quietly as he reached out and placed both hands on her shoulders.

Before Devon could register what was happening, Danziger took a confident step forward and lowered his head to hers, covering her mouth with his own. His advances had been completely unexpected on Devon's part and her head spun out of control, prompting her knees to involuntarily buckle beneath her. However, Danziger strengthened his grip and held her steadily against him.

The mechanic continued on the offensive and guided Devon the final few inches until her back was pressed against the smooth metal cab of Rover, eliciting a muffled moan from them both. Their shared kisses gradually increased in length and intensity as, for the very first time during their waking hours, they allowed their long-buried desire for one another to fully surface. They also happily confirmed that their partner's actions, as well as their reactions to each and every overture, were indeed identical to their dream counterparts.

Realizing that Devon's still-crossed arms remained trapped in between their crushed bodies, John pulled back just far enough to allow her to slip free. Now completely unrestrained, Devon wasted no time and wrapped her arms securely around him, digging her fingers into his upper back in the endeavor to eliminate any and all space between them.

The need for intimacy quickly overtook them as John's mouth left Devon's, his whiskers gently scraping against her softer skin as his lips ventured across her jawline and down the column of her neck. Devon sensed that her knees were in danger of failing her again when John further tightened his hold on her and they rejoined in a deep, desire-fueled kiss.

They enjoyed several more moments of shared passion until at last they were forced to separate in order to catch their breaths. As they desperately clung to one another, the intermingling sounds of their strained gasps and their wildly pounding hearts endlessly reverberated in their ears.

Devon's head suddenly felt like it was spinning into chaos again and, although there was no doubt whatsoever that she was beyond thrilled by this newest turn of events, she was also overwhelmed with shock, love, arousal, jubilation and a hundred other emotions that she found difficult to categorize in order of importance all at once.

"John?" she beckoned against his shoulder, her voice short-winded and slightly unsettled.

Devon felt Danziger exhale several full breaths before he arched his head back, enabling her to fully view his features. She was surprised to see that, in contrast to her own discombobulation, the mechanic appeared to be amazingly relaxed, more so than he'd been in weeks. In fact, he was the very model of composure; and a very small part of Devon wanted to throttle him for it.

"What do we do now?" she asked, still attempting to regain her bearings.

There was a healthy dose of mirth in Danziger's eyes as his mouth angled upward to form a crooked, yet endearing grin.

He leaned forward to touch her forehead with his, and there wasn't a hint of hesitation in his reply.

"I think it's about damn time we get to know each other better."


	12. Chapter 12

The dawn was just moments from breaking over the nearby mountaintops as Cameron forced his eyes open, grumpily reminding himself that he'd lost yet another wager with Baines and was now sentenced to breakfast duty for the next three days.

The crewman supposed that it mattered little in the grand scheme of things that he had absolutely no aptitude for cooking. After all, it wasn't as if they had a fully stocked kitchen with dozens of ingredients and recipes to choose from. So 'Fruit And Berry Surprise' it was going to have to be. Again.

For the sakes of all the colonists comprising The Eden Project, he hoped that their luck- and their limited diet- would change for the better once they'd reached the shores of New Pacifica. He was keeping his fingers crossed that beyond the beautiful coastline that he'd envisioned so many times in his head, there would also be several hectares of forests bearing a variety of edible vegetation. Or at the very least, that there would be a cargo pod jam-packed with biosphere canisters patiently awaiting their arrival.

As Cameron roughly shoved his arms into the sleeves of his jacket and trudged toward the tent's exit, his ears began to pick up noises emanating from the center of camp. Immediately concerned, he crossed the threshold and cautiously moved through the mostly darkened landscape toward the commotion.

However, it wasn't long before the crewman was able to reach an explanation for the disturbance, despite the source of the clamor remaining well beyond his line of sight. In fact, he recognized the familiar sound as one that had been heard hundreds, if not thousands, of times by Eden Advance since their crash-landing on G889, though not during the past several weeks.

Before Cameron could advance any further and confirm his conclusion, he was interrupted by a groggy Magus as she poked her head out of the nearest tent.

"What's goin' on, Cam?" she asked, clearly not dressed as evidenced by her pulling the canvas tightly closed around her exposed features.

Before Cameron could answer her, a lumalantern was turned on in the tent directly next door and Morgan stumbled out of his quarters, his pants barely fastened and his long, dark hair a disheveled mess.

"Who's making all that racket?" he complained with theatrical indignance to no one in particular. "Don't they know that people are trying to sleep?"

He twisted his body back toward the mouth of the tent, looking for support. "Bess, how much more of this am I expected to take?" he griped. "A man needs his rest, especially when he's expected to spend most of his waking hours endlessly marching across a continent filled with penal colonists, poisonous rodents, flowers that try to force you to commit suicide, Z.E.D.s, holier-than-thou creatures made of dirt and a million other things that I should never have had to deal with in the first place! For crying out loud, when will this camping trip from Hell finally end?"

As soon as Morgan finished his rant, Bess promptly appeared in the doorway of their shared enclosure, in part to serve as the main source of strength for her husband as she had done so many times before. However, unbeknownst to him, her larger goal was to relocate in order to more closely focus in on the nearby disruption.

The Earth-res' eyes almost immediately widened in surprise. "Are those Devon and Danziger's voices?" she suggested haltingly.

"Yeah," Cameron affirmed.

The foursome simultaneously went silent for a few moments and listened intently to the unmistakable intonations of their two leaders.

"Are they-" Bess paused, almost as if the prospect was too much to ask for. "Are they _fighting_?"

Cameron nodded happily. "Sounds like it."

Now Magus was completely awake. "Thank God," she exclaimed, her tone a perfect balance of excitement and relief. "It's about shanking time things 'round here got back to normal!"

While Magus rushed to get dressed, Bess and Morgan accompanied Cameron as he reinitiated his short journey toward the fire pit where the two were apparently situated. They were quickly joined by Baines, Denner and Walman who were equally as interested in seeing the loud spectacle for themselves.

Based upon their close proximity and the ever-increasing volume of the involved participants, they were almost immediately able to decipher Devon and John's words. So instead of crashing the pair's semi-private war party, it was jointly decided that the small group would temporarily remain behind the nearest tent and eavesdrop on the fireworks.

"Then why didn't you just ask me?" Danziger's deep baritone rang in their ears.

"Because I already knew the answer! You told me yourself!" came Devon's snippy reply.

"No, I didn't!" he gruffed.

"You most certainly did! You said that after we reached New Pacifica, I was going to send you back to the Stations a rich man!"

"So?" Danziger hollered, and even without personally witnessing the exchange, the entire crew could practically see him tossing his hands in the air in exasperation.

Meanwhile, Devon's voice somehow managed to grow even more annoyed. "So... you made it pretty clear that you weren't planning to stay on G889!"

She added curtly, "And by the way, you also called me '_spoiled_!'"

The duo's verbal boxing match paused ever-so-briefly to allow them to return to their separate emotional corners. But the break was quickly over and the next round began with Danziger throwing the first jab.

"Hold up, I don't remember sayin' any of that."

"Well, you _did_!" Devon swung back with equal force.

"When?"

"A few weeks after we got here!"

Cameron and the others weren't completely sure at the time, but it was later speculated that this was the moment when they actually heard Danziger's head explode.

"Wait a minute, your beef with me- and God only knows how shankin' long you've been pissed at me about this- is based on some off-hand remark that I probably blurted out during the heat of an argument only a couple of days after we crash-landed on this rock. Am I gettin' this right?"

"Yes!" Devon declared confidently, and everyone within the sound of her voice could tell by her tone that she was practically daring the mechanic to contradict her.

Danziger emitted an unamused snort. "Good God, woman, you sure are a piece of work!" he exclaimed. "You should've asked me again!"

"Well, excuse me for taking you at your word!"

"Things change, Adair!" he insisted, as he took a few much-needed seconds to concentrate on tempering his breathing and his hostility. As he gradually became more composed, he furthered, "People change."

There was a swelling of deeper emotion in his voice as he repeated much more quietly, "You should've asked me again."

Devon went silent, seemingly at a sudden loss for words. And before she was able to regroup and form an appropriate response, the seated duo's attention was drawn to a still half-asleep True who'd obviously been awakened by the ruckus and had just staggered out of her tent.

The little girl had never been considered a voluntary early riser and, as such, she barely stayed upright as she stumbled her way up to the seated pair while wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"What's goin' on, Dad?" she yawned.

Danziger craned his neck around to address his daughter directly and he immediately transformed into parent-mode.

His voice exuded warmth and reassurance as he conveyed, "Everything's fine, True-girl. Devon and I are just havin' a difference of opinion, that's all."

Devon backed up John's assessment of the situation by heartily nodding her agreement, which immediately made True suspicious. She volleyed her now fully alert gaze between the two moody adults as several factors began to click in her head.

For one thing, her father hadn't raised his voice since his fight with Alonzo the prior week. In fact, he'd barely spoken at all. Moreover, he'd been actively avoiding Devon for some reason and wouldn't tell her or anyone else why.

And now he was here hollering at her, but most certainly not in the way that he'd hollered at Alonzo. To an untrained ear, the distinction was barely noticeable, but to a seasoned combat veteran like True, the spirited exchange was more than enough to bring a smile to her cherubic face.

"Really?" she expressed with enthusiasm, obviously still too young to fully appreciate the irony that, only in Danziger's unique view of the world, would a loud argument be considered a positive step forward in a relationship. And apparently that was how things worked in the Adair household as well.

"Yeah," John replied before gesturing over her shoulder toward their shared tent. "Why don't you go get yourself dressed. Cameron should have breakfast up and runnin' pretty soon."

When True failed to immediately heed his instructions and instead remained standing before them wearing an ear to ear grin, Danziger couldn't help but crack a small smile of his own.

"Go on. I'll be along soon," he insisted.

After True practically skipped her way back to their quarters, the elder Danziger turned his attention back to Devon who was now completely composed and mirrored his warm expression.

He briefly glanced skyward. "The sun's comin' up," he relayed casually.

Devon followed suit by also stating the obvious. "We stayed up all night."

John made a big show of inhaling a full breath of morning air. "You tired?"

The leader thought about it a second as she stretched her arms lazily outward. "Not really," she admitted, shaking her head.

"It'll probably hit you soon," he forewarned. "That's okay, though. We'll just catch some shuteye in the vehicles today."

"Or maybe we should get to bed early tonight," Devon proposed, a coquettish grin etching its way across her face.

Danziger was a bit taken aback at the suggestion, and just as importantly, by her expression as she spoke the words.

His own features reflected his hesitancy and perhaps even his disappointment as he angled in closer to her, his voice reduced to a raspy whisper.

"I think the Diggers've probably seen enough of us, don't ya' think?"

Now it was Devon's turn to be surprised, realizing that the mechanic had completely misinterpreted her objective.

"Actually," she clarified, matching his low tone, "I was thinking about asking Yale if he'd mind letting Uly sleep in his tent tonight."

Though she didn't say it aloud, Devon found it a bit worrisome that Danziger thought that she'd ever consider- much less choose- the option of the two of them meeting on the Dreamplane again, as opposed to in reality. It was a glaring reminder that the pair had a few more communication hurdles to jump.

But that was acceptable in Devon's book because they had plenty of time to come to terms with their various differences. Plus, they'd have lots of opportunities to help their partner see where they were truly coming from, as well as where they'd wished to go. Devon fully understood that they were a work in progress. They'd get better at this. Hopefully.

Meanwhile, Danziger's doubts had been completely eradicated and he was eager to put her plans into action.

"I'm scheduled for guard duty all night, but I'm bettin' that I can find a volunteer to take my place."

And by 'volunteer,' he obviously meant Alonzo.

More than satisfied, Devon rose to her feet, noting that she wasn't the least bit sore, despite remaining sedentary on an uncomfortable crate for several hours. In fact, she felt energized and ready to attack the day with a vengeance.

She took a few steps toward the still-seated mechanic and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Just get there when you can," she whispered into his ear while she breezed by. "I'll wait up for you."

John twisted his torso around in order for the two to remain in eye contact for as long as possible until Devon was forced to turn away and refocus her concentration.

It was important that she get back to her quarters, change into fresh clothing and wake up Uly. Plus, she could feel Danziger's intense gaze on her back as she moved, and she certainly had no intention of ending her wonderful night with him by clumsily tripping and falling flat on her face, simply because she was oblivious to what was right in front of her.

Danziger watched Devon with admiration and several other more primal emotions as she gracefully arrived at her tent, and they exchanged one more all-knowing glance before she disappeared into the dwelling. It took several seconds for John to finally tear his eyes away, and this lack of will power prompted a wry chuckle under his breath. _How in the hell did he get here?_

Now alone- well, sort of- he decided that it was high-time to get his day started. After confirming that the once blazing campfire from the previous evening had been ignored long enough that it was now reduced to ashes, John's next order of business was to amend that night's sentry schedule as he'd promised Devon.

And that was an easy problem to solve.

He marched in the opposite direction of the Danziger and Adair quarters toward a nearby cluster of tents. Of course, he was completely aware that behind the closest dwelling was a crowd of not-so-silent onlookers who'd been spying on Devon and him for the final and loudest leg of their spirited discussion.

Like bulls in a china shop, Danziger had listened to the Edenites stomp their feet, complain in not-so-hushed tones, and uproariously shush one another quiet without success. He wouldn't really classify what they were doing as eavesdropping because, to be perfectly blunt, they were just too damn bad at it.

How careless at his job did they think he was? Danziger may have been occupied with Devon, but he was still on duty and on the lookout for any possible threats to their campsite. For Christ's sake, he'd been charged with the integral task of ensuring that his friends and family remained alive and healthy while they'd slept! Did they honestly think that he was _that_ oblivious to his surroundings and, therefore, hadn't noticed their wild free-for-all?

But just as the heat under John's collar began to ignite into a full-blown firestorm, something miraculous happened. The mechanic decided that he didn't care. And besides that, he had much more important things to accomplish.

Danziger increased both his speed and his resolve as he firmly squared his shoulders, charging around the tent and through the impromptu gathering like a quarterback barreling for the end zone. He ignored the group's presence entirely as they scurried to get out of his way and avoid being physically knocked to the ground.

John's forward momentum continued and he made a beeline straight to the med-tent, and the now fully exposed gawkers watched with rapt fascination as he thunderously began to bang his fist on the tarp's entrance.

"Up and at 'em, Solace!," Danziger bellowed, seemingly unconcerned that he was likely awakening Julia and the few still sleeping members of Eden Advance at the same time. "Get out here!"

After hearing some rustling inside the enclosure, along with a bit of mumbling that was too low to be accurately deciphered, the flap was slowly pulled back and a partially dressed Alonzo very cautiously stepped over the threshold. Despite just being roused from a sleep, he appeared to be wide awake and nervous, as if he was bracing himself for inevitable trouble.

"Mornin', Danziger," Alonzo said neutrally and somewhat contrite.

The pilot was definitely relieved that John had finally sought him out after a week of silent treatment and hostile looks. However, though Devon had been very understanding and even forgiving when it came to the mistakes he'd made, he was fully aware that Danziger was going to be a much tougher sell. Little did the sleepjumper know that Danziger had no intention of rehashing old news at that moment.

The mechanic got right down to business. "I'm takin' the night off tonight and, as of now, you're in charge of the guard schedule. Find people to fill the shifts or work 'em yourself, but it ain't gonna be me."

He arched forward to purposely invade Alonzo's personal space, adding with a dose of no-nonsense coarseness, "And don't shank it up."

Without waiting for a response, John backed away and mirrored his path backward to the center of camp. However, when he reached the ever-growing group of spectators, he decided to make a quick pit stop.

His eyes scanned the crowd and centered in on his next target. "Cameron," he commanded in a serious tone. "Is breakfast done yet?"

The crewman knew he was in trouble and the answer came out as more of a question. "Um, no?"

"Then why are you out here goofin' off?" he blustered. "Hop to it then! We don't got all day to wait around for you."

His focus widened and he added in a mildly threatening voice, "That goes for the rest of you, too. Since you seem to have all this free time to spare, maybe you should be spending it packin' up your shit and tearin' down your tents!"

Now that the old Danziger had clearly and thankfully returned, the crew had no intention of pushing the issue, and they immediately dispersed in order to follow his instructions to the letter That is, with the notable exception of one person.

"John," Bess beckoned, standing firm until she received the assurance that she needed. "Is everything okay?"

Danziger rocked back on his heels, taking her question very seriously. It was still early in the morning and he'd already argued with a crazy woman who he just happened to be nuts about. He then accepted an offer from that same crazy woman to meet with her again that night. He'd put the fear of God into Alonzo and saddled him with guard duty. He'd barked at the crew, noting how great it felt to finally yell again. And best of all, he'd seen his little girl smile. So far, this looked like it was going to be a pretty damn good day.

"Yeah, Bess," he replied, his mouth arching upward into the barest hint of a smile. "Everything's fine."

* * *

To most of the Edenites, it was if a spirit crushing weight had been lifted from the shoulders of the entire group. Everyone was on speaking- and even yelling- terms again. Though the majority of the crew remained mostly in the dark as to what had transpired between the feuding trio, at that point, they couldn't care less. All that mattered was that life was reverting back to normal... or as normal as it gets in Eden Advance.

That morning's breakfast was uneventful which, in itself, was a breath of fresh air. Conversations and the mud that passed for coffee freely flowed from table to table. And despite the meager offerings in the meal department, Cameron's "Fruit And Berry Surprise" was a hit with the crew and all were thankful that their stomachs weren't empty.

Although they sat at different locations with their respective children, Devon and Danziger occupied the meal tent at the same time and actively participated in discussions with the group and with one another. The pair also exchanged several looks that were missed by no one. And though Alonzo remained huddled off to the side at a corner table, he was more sociable than he'd been in weeks which was regarded by the rest as major progress. The only Edenite who stayed strangely and unusually quiet was Yale.

As the two leaders perhaps not-so-coincidentally matched one another's movements and simultaneously rose from their seats to set their place settings in the cleaning bin, Devon said to John softly, "I haven't told Uly yet, but I've spoken to Yale, so we're on for tonight."

Despite the leader's hushed tone, Danziger was astonished by her brazen choice to discuss their private affairs out in the open. After all, Bess was at the very next table.

He leaned his head downward and rumbled under his breath, "Really? What excuse did you use?"

Devon almost looked offended by the question. "None. I told him the truth."

Danziger's head drew back sharply and his jaw dropped. Well, that explained Yale's odd silence and the fact that he'd been eyeing Danziger suspiciously during the entire meal. It must have been a bit of a shock for him to hear that the woman who was like a daughter to him had arranged a clandestine rendezvous in her tent with an intended paramour. Moreover, the former tutor was expected to assist her by babysitting Uly so the meeting could take place. That certainly took some chutzpah in John's book.

Devon was a bit surprised by John's reaction to her pragmatism, so she felt the need to add, "We're both adults, Danziger. We have nothing to hide. The only thing that we have to figure out is when and how we want to tell our kids."

A warm smile tugged at her lips as she furthered, "And we still have plenty to work out between ourselves, too."

It took a few seconds for the mechanic to digest and respond to her bluntness. Indeed, it had never occurred to him that she would be so forthcoming and, well, comfortable about their budding relationship. Not that he was adverse to it.

Ignoring the others in the room who were likely watching their every move, Danziger arched forward and whispered into Devon's hair, sending a noticeable shiver down her spine as his breath tickled her ear.

"Yeah, I know. But we got time."

Appearing completely at ease, Danziger left her side and made his way toward the exit. True dutifully joined him as he reached the doorway and he pivoted back to share one more look with Devon.

It had been such a relief for John to finally air the feelings that had been harnessed for much too long. And once the two of them had expressed their mutual desire, they'd ended up talking for hours by the campfire about a variety of subjects, including relaying details about their background, as well as some of their goals for the future. They'd even ever-so-briefly broached the long-considered taboo topic of their child's other parent, which both had privately heralded as a giant step forward in their partnership. And of course, they'd finished the night off with a lively exchange which also served the purpose of highlighting their startling and rather appalling lack of communication skills.

As inwardly delighted as Danziger was that things were actually starting to go his way for once, it was hard for an old dog to learn new tricks and he still wasn't certain of what the future would hold for him and Devon. He didn't have the luxury of youth and naivete and, therefore, he could only base his outlook on a lifetime's worth of having the rug being pulled out from under him just after he'd thought he'd finally gained his footing.

But despite a negative mindset filled with deeply rooted fears, John understood that this relationship with Devon was his chance- perhaps his _final_ chance- for real happiness and it shouldn't be squandered. He could also trust in the fact that, no matter what happened, he would never ever stop loving Devon. Even if it killed him... which living on a strange planet where danger and certain death lurked around every corner, was not beyond the realm of possibility.

When all was said and done, Danziger resolved that he was going to willingly dive in with both feet and see where the current took them both. Maybe hope wasn't such a bad thing after all.

At the same time, although Devon remained cool and collected on the outside, there were no words to accurately describe how thrilled she was at that very moment. The pieces had finally fallen into place with John and she couldn't wait to embark on a life-long partnership with him.

Of course, nothing was perfect and they both had to relearn to flex their long atrophied communication muscles. Plus, it couldn't be ignored that the pair possessed stubborn streaks and were a bit on the hot-headed side. And of course, Danziger's contrarian nature could be a real pain in her backside, especially when he set his mind to it.

Moreover, she was aware that the mechanic harbored a few unresolved issues regarding their dissimilar social and financial status back on the Stations. But as far as the leader was concerned, that was another lifetime ago. She had never and would never care that they'd grown up on the opposite sides of the tracks. It only mattered where they were now, and where they would be the rest of their lives once they'd reached New Pacifica.

Devon planned to work tirelessly to convince Danziger that their few differences were minor obstacles that weren't important in the long run. She was certain in her heart of hearts that everything between them was going to work out fine and she was willing to do whatever it took to make him believe it as well. And one day, she'd hoped that Danziger would welcome the opportunity to fill the role of father to Uly, just as she'd hoped to one day be allowed to take on the duties of raising True as a mother figure.

In the meantime, they were going to continue to get to know one another better. There was little doubt that she and John would fight and scream and probably come close to killing one another more than a few times. But she was also certain that they would be one another's staunchest supporters, and they would love each other more deeply than probably either of them had a right to be loved. Despite their rough edges, they were a perfect fit.

As far as Devon was concerned, their presence in each other's lives was irrefutable proof that second chances do exist. And despite a few noisy, yet ultimately insignificant bumps in the road, the two of them were off to a pretty good start.

Devon could hardly wait to see what the future would bring them.

THE END


End file.
